May 19 – Financial Times (Tony Barber):
“At the start
of this year, India published a draft national strategy for the Arctic.
Even for a country that is closer to the equator than to the North Pole,
the Arctic matters. However, in an icy region that once served as a
model for post-cold war co-operation, the rivalry heating up among
China, Russia and the US is cause for concern… Apart from India, new or
updated strategies for the region have appeared in the past three years
from Canada, China, the EU, France, Germany, Norway, Poland, Russia,
Sweden and the UK. In Washington, the US Air Force, Army, Coast Guard,
Department of Defense, Department for Homeland Security, Marine Corps
and Navy have added to the pile of strategy documents. The striking
feature of these publications is that almost all make reference to
national security dimensions of Arctic policy … So the intensifying
rivalry reflects more than climate change ...
Ultimately, the US, Russia and China are eyeing each other with
suspicion in the region …”