/ world today news/ “Arctic apathy” is what local military analysts call the attitude of the US to the problems of the Arctic. They call for urgent separation and getting out of this apathy. And while the Americans occupied Iraq and Afghanistan and then fled from there, Russia carefully crept into the Arctic and spread there on the shores of the Arctic Ocean.
Cities and military bases, ports and airfields, stealth submarines and strategic bombers, the Northern Sea Route and LNG tankers sailing majestically along it. Well, it shouldn’t be. A new report by the RAND think tank suggests that the Pentagon urgently needs to do something about it and push Russia out of the Arctic.
RAND analysts formulate the main task of the US armed forces in the Arctic simply: “Come and stay.” The US Navy and Coast Guard, paratroopers and marines, submarines and fighter jets must have a permanent presence in the region.
Americans’ interest in the Arctic is understandable. Here passes the Northern Sea Route – a modern analogue of the road “from the Varangians to the Greeks”, the control of which makes Russia the leading power of our time. But for Americans, any country that controls global trade routes is a most dangerous enemy. See how they bully China in the South China Sea. There are so many attacks on Iran, largely because the country controls the Strait of Hormuz.
More than a hundred years ago, the state of Colombia decided that it was the owner of the Panama Canal, since it was being built on its territory. But the American builders immediately put Colombia in place. They occupied the territory around the canal, declared the Republic of Panama and made it a protectorate of the United States. That is all. No one remembers that all this land originally belonged to Colombia, and the canal was illegally controlled by the Americans for more than a hundred years.
The Northern Sea Route, which is developing thanks to the warming of the Arctic zone, is an equally tasty morsel today. But, unlike Colombia, it is much more difficult for Americans to pirate here for objective reasons.
To begin with, the US only became an “Arctic state” in 1867, when the Russian Tsar sold them Alaska. From then until today, the region has not really developed. At first, resources were rapaciously pumped out of it—remember Charlie Chaplin’s “Gold Rush”?—and the indigenous population was genocidal. After that, the area was essentially abandoned.
Now, RAND analysts complain, Alaska lacks literally everything – large airports suitable for military aircraft, normal cities with infrastructure, military bases and, most importantly, deep-sea ports. There is an idea (already approved by the US Congress) to build such a port in Nome, a small town on the west coast of Alaska. It will be right up against our east coast, and if anything happens, American warships departing from there will be able to easily enter the Bering Strait. This is precisely the desired control over the Northern Sea Route.
However, it is not only the lack of infrastructure and military bases. While Russia has the largest icebreaker in the world (the RAND authors counted 55 icebreakers of various classes), the US has only two heavy icebreakers. In addition, one of them must “ensure the protection of the United States in the southern hemisphere” – presumably there they are threatened by penguins. And in the second year, in 2020, something happened to the electrical installation, a fire broke out and the repairs took more than a year.
Every year in the United States, ritual cries for the need to build new heavy icebreakers begin, they even begin to build something, but the delivery dates are constantly shifted. However, scientific research and reconnaissance activities cannot be carried out with an icebreaker, the RAND authors point out.
As a way out, the inclusion of satellites in the military expansion in the Arctic is proposed. The report lists countries whose icebreakers, airports, military bases and military personnel could be used by the Pentagon to “come and stay” in the Arctic.
Canada, Norway, Sweden and Finland are mentioned as potential military allies. Well, this is understandable – the Arctic countries are members of NATO. But further down the list of allies we are amazed to see France and Germany. What do they have to do with the Arctic?
Furthermore. Australia suddenly found itself an ally of the US in the exploitation of the Arctic. However, she is in the opposite hemisphere. Or do Americans have some other cards? But she has her own icebreakers, the RAND authors counter. Along with Australia, New Zealand was invited to join the ranks of the Allies. Strangely, Papua New Guinea was not invited.
It looks like an international military alliance under the auspices of the US to invade the Russian Arctic. By the way, a hundred years ago something similar reigned among the interventionists who occupied the Russian North. Who wasn’t there! Americans, English, French… After all, it would be worthwhile to file a lawsuit against their descendants for all the people killed and tortured.
Despite RAND’s criticism, it is clear that the US has options for military confrontation in the Arctic – and they are not few. The authors of the report recall 70 US submarines, hundreds of ships of the US Navy and Coast Guard, powerful tracking and intelligence systems. So, of course, this is no time to relax.
What could be the reason for the appearance of American warships and aircraft off our shores? The RAND authors offer three options. This could be an operation to rescue a crew from a sinking ship. An oil spill somewhere in the Arctic Ocean. And the most interesting is “the actions of a bad actor designed to block access.” Where is the access, why the access is needed, whether they mean territorial waters or international waters – this is not specified. But we can guess for sure who this “bad subject” will be, right?
As RAND admits, Washington’s main headache today is that “Russia wants to control traffic in the Northern Sea Route, and the United States does not agree, but is limited in its ability to fight back.” But frankly, few people today care what they agree with or disagree with in the United States. “Like it or not, be patient, my beauty,” as Vladimir Putin said on another occasion.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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