Arctic Gambit PDF Download

"Climate change is accelerating the rate of polar ice melt in the Arctic, causing trillions of dollars of natural resources (oil, gas, and minerals) to become accessible for exploitation and creating additional transport routes to open connecting European markets to East Asia. The region's vast economic potential has increased interest and investment in unearthing these raw materials. Russia's economic and military investments in the region are causing alarm amongst Arctic nations, NATO, and the international community threatening to upend the relatively stable power balance that has existed for decades. Although China's interests are mainly economic, its investments in Greenland's mining sector and bids to build airports on the island have raised concerns within Denmark's governing body while making the United States increasingly suspicious of China's intent in the region. With only one military installation in the Arctic outside of Alaska (Thule Air Base, Greenland), the US finds it exceedingly difficult to project military power into the High North to protect and defend its interests and provide a security guarantee to its allies. China's economic advances and Russia's remilitarization of the Arctic threaten our shared national interests, the rules-based order, and European sovereignty. In response to this threat, Greenland and the Faroe Islands have gained US interest as a launchpad for a US Arctic Strategy and means of projecting combat-capable, all-domain air, space, and maritime power in the region. Renewed Great Power Competition has lit a fuse within US Foreign Policy that will take more than Arctic ice to extinguish."--Abstract.