News & Views on the Russian presence within the Arctic Circle
5 May 2010
I came across this comment on my blog, I don’t know exactly where it is from so I thought I ought to try and clarify something of the politics behind my posts. Consider the following: In addition to this post on the role and place of military forces and the interesting debate with Russia’s special representative from the Foreign Ministry, whicht I covered here, these comments in иноСМИ.ru by... Read More...
30 April 2010
According to this report the govenor of the Murmansk region believes that Russia did not make any concessions, though he is contradicted by a former economist and engineer Nikolai Bogdanov who estimates that Russia has had to cede around 9 billion tonnes of oil and who laments the lack of a proper exploration policy and reliance on foreign firms. The Financial Times in the UK uses the metaphor... Read More...
29 April 2010
Whenever Putin does anything related to the Arctic then the internet gets jammed packed with articles and reports. So it is the case with the visit of Putin to Franz-Joseph land where the problems of polar bears and other matters have been discussed under the auspices of the Russian Geographical Society. Videofootage of Putin and the scientists together with a lullaby soundtrack about... Read More...
28 April 2010
This report in прийм-тасс emphasizes that historic handshakes (vecti has videofootage of the press conference) are not quite the same thing as detailed agreement. The report states that, ‘Москва рассчитывает на диалог по этому вопросу’, which roughly means that Moscow is considering the dialogue on this issue, which is the precise... Read More...
27 April 2010
The importance of this doesn’t need to be emphasized but utro.ru have reported that Norway and Russia have concluded an agreement about the delineation of maritime boundaries in the Barents Sea which will be called, ‘Agreement on maritime delimitation and cooperation in the Barents Sea and Arctic Ocean.” The report stresses that the precise legal details still need... Read More...
26 April 2010
In the light of concerns about the relative (declining?) position of the west in the world, such as these expressed in this book by an HSBC economist, I often wonder whether it would be better if western countries couldn’t fix on a more coordinated approach to issues such as Russia’s development of the Arctic region. Medvedev’s visit to Norway to discuss such... Read More...
24 April 2010
infox.ru reports on Norway’s negotiations with Russia concerning the Barents Sea ahead of the visit next week of President Medvedev to Oslo. The headline emphasizes that Norway is in no hurry to conclude an agreement, which contradicts some opinion expressed before when the Norwegians went to Moscow. The tangle of issues includes Spitzbergen and even the Shtokman project. The... Read More...
23 April 2010
This report in риа-новости quotes a researcher at the National Geophysical Observatory speaking at a conference in St. Petersburg which states that there will be a prolonged period of global cooling, peaking after 15 years. The scientist claims that the oscillation in the global temperature is greater than that observed under global warming. There is explicit criticsism... Read More...
23 April 2010
Special Envoy of the Russian Foreign Ministry Anton Vasiliev made a good job of explaining Russia’s Arctic plans in the RIA Novocti interview with journalists from London, Moscow, Finland, France and also some experts and academics. The discussion was wide-ranging and based on Medvedev’s 2020 document. The discussion covered issues of climate change, transport and communications,... Read More...
22 April 2010
… have suddenly entered the fray. This report here is on the attempt of a yacht Peter 1st to circumnavigate the Arctic Ocean without the assistance of an ice-breaker. The expedition will take place this June and will follow the northern sea route. You could almost miss the significance of this event until it is claimed that, ‘the success of the expedition will secure... Read More...
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