Rules Based International (Dis)order |
The Arctic, the northernmost polar region, comprises the Arctic Ocean and its adjacent seas and has about four million people, mostly Sami and Inuit. The Arctic Eight—the US, Canada, Russia, Finland, Denmark (including Greenland (GL)), Norway, Iceland, and Sweden (except Russia, all are members of NATO)—border the Arctic region. Since 2018, China has considered itself a near-Arctic state. An Arctic Council, aka the Arctic Five, comprising Canada, Norway, Russia, the US, and Denmark, formed in 1996, coordinates a common strategy for states, communities, and natural resources affected by changes in the Arctic Circle. The US Geological Survey determines that the Arctic Circle holds about 22% of the world’s undiscovered but recoverable resources.
Trump invites PM Shehbaz to join Gaza Board of Peace
Self-autonomous GL, a former Danish colony, is situated in the Arctic region. It is an 836,000-square-mile, resource-rich island with a population of about 57,000 people, almost 90% Inuit. It is the world’s least densely populated country, and about 81% of it is covered by ice. It lies between the US and Europe and astride the GL–Iceland–UK (GIUK) gap that links the Arctic to the Atlantic Ocean. This makes its possession and control inevitable for access to the North Atlantic, for trade and/or military purposes.
Ominously, GL might be next on President Trump’s “to do” list!
Pakistan Needs a Shared Boardroom
GL, despite its remoteness and icy wilderness, is now emerging with increasing geopolitical, geostrategic, and geoeconomic........