News & Views on the Russian presence within the Arctic Circle
30 October 2009
There are some reports, being firmly denied, that Russia’s relationship to the Arctic is to become the subject of a PR initiative using a firm based in London, Geneva and Switzerland. Details are sketchy but it is suggested that the environment, mining issues and Russia’s status as a great power will be some of the topics being addressed. I doubt that the Kremlin could... Read More...
29 October 2009
Tony Blair, the EU Summit, the Milibands, climate change, Arctic Russia (and arcticrussia.com) - what do they all have in common? Simple - Tony Blair is telling bankers in New York that they can make money out of trading carbon credits. The UK Foreign Secretary and his brother are presenting information at the Science Museum in London making predictions about a warming Arctic while also... Read More...
29 October 2009
Many thanks to Caitlyn (see comments on yesterday’s post) for sharing her expert knowledge about the issue of the meaning of ‘ice-free’. This indeed seems to be a term used without much understanding or definition by commentators and pundits alike and, as Caitlyn illustrates, arriving at a definition is a complex calculation involving temporal and geographical considerations. I... Read More...
28 October 2009
This is not a Russian sources but a British one (I found it via the ‘watts up with that’ website). As it is so important for the whole issue of Arctic Russia then it is worth noting. The UK met office are now talking about ice-free summers between 2060 and 2080. This date seems further back than many dates cited recently and also the concept of ice-free needs some elaboration... Read More...
27 October 2009
There are some interesting discussions taking place at the moment on the future of the Black Sea fleet in the Crimea and the naval base at Sevastopol. One author writes that Russia’s relations with Ukraine and the West are a geopolitical faultline of the post-Soviet space where dynamics are still unfolding and largely unknown. He also argues that the importance that Russia attaches... Read More...
26 October 2009
Under the title ‘global warming is postponed’ this title from Ekaterinburg repeats a report on the BBC (links here via The Daily Telegraph) about a US study which claims that we are now experiencing some global cooling. In the Arctic, for example, the level of ice-cover is increasing, or so it is claimed. The article makes reference to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. The... Read More...
25 October 2009
It was said by Icelanders that Gordon Brown used British anti-terror legislation to seize the assets held in Britain of Icelandic banks that had become insolvent. This was not a good diplomatic move. This discussion shows how close Russia came to becoming, all of a sudden, Iceland’s number one ally. Now, after the IMF stepped in, there are attempts being made for Iceland to join the... Read More...
24 October 2009
Environmental politics has intersected with energy politics in the past, such as when Putin, Russian environment agencies and even the WWF evoked breaches of environmental regulations on the part of Shell in a dispute about the Sakhalin project. The WWF ahead of Copenhagen is lobbying in Russia, along with google and youtube, GreenpeaceRussia and the Department of Energy, about the issue... Read More...
23 October 2009
A writer in FinTimes.ru envisages a world of geopolitics in which wars take place for control over resources, and where Russia has an abundance of resources so it does well. Predictably, the Arctic is mentioned as one potential site of this conflict. However, this model of conflict is too simple. There are human technological ‘resources’ (as well as things like water and... Read More...
22 October 2009
There are many reports today of the flights of two Tupolev 95ms long range strategic bombers over international waters, somewhere near the boundary between the Pacific and the Arctic oceans, probably ocean near the Aleutian Islands. They are described as practicing flying for long periods without the guidance of landmarks. It would seem that the strategic function of the aircraft is... Read More...
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