ARCTIC: France’s Defense Promise & more – 17th June 2025

Aluu from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Arctic Update from the 17th of June twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what’s going down North of the Arctic Circle!

The international tension surrounding Greenland keeps growing. On Sunday the 15th, Emmanuel Macron, the French President, visited Greenland to affirm his country’s support for the defence and sovereignty of the Arctic island nation.

At a press conference during his visit, Macron made several important announcements. He said France will take on greater responsibility for Arctic defence and development, having largely been absent from the region previously. As part of this commitment, France will open a consulate in Greenland’s capital city, Nuuk. Macron also took aim at Trump, saying that Greenland will not be bought or taken by force.

The ongoing saga between the US and Greenland continued this week. On Thursday the 12th, Pete Hesgeth, the US Defence Secretary, was questioned by the Armed Services Committee regarding current military issues. When asked about President Trump’s assertion that the US is open to invading Greenland, Hesgeth confirmed that the Pentagon has contingency plans to invade Greenland if necessary. He did not elaborate on what should happen for this plan to take place, but said the US wants to protect Greenland from threats.

Protecting the Arctic needs global cooperation, and scientists across the world are calling for action. On Thursday the 12th, at the UN’s Ocean Conference, a coalition of over 1,000 scientists released a joint statement urging Arctic governments to take preemptive action to prevent industrial activity from growing in the ocean. The statement addresses industries like deep-sea mining, shipping and oil drilling, saying that these destructive activities threaten to permanently damage the fragile Arctic. Before it is too late, world governments need to create legally binding protections that ensure any development in the Arctic is done with environmental well-being at its core.

This UN Conference was seen as a big win for ocean conservation.

To see how countries are committing to protect the oceans take a look at the link in the show notes.

Not everyone is so thoughtful about Arctic preservation, though. On Friday the 13th, the news agency The Barents Observer published a story revealing that a group of super-rich Russians is planning to charter a luxury French yacht to host a big party on the North Pole. Among the billionaires, invited guests included DJs, comedians, fitness influencers, TV personalities and the rock band Leningrad.

The cruise will set off from the Norwegian territory of Svalbard in August and take passengers to the geographic North Pole, breaking the melting ice as they celebrate their opulent wealth at the top of the world.

The average citizen of the Russian Arctic may not appreciate this display of riches from their countrymen, especially as their schools are failing. On Tuesday the 10th, The Barents Observer reported on data published by the Tochno data agency in Russia.

The data shows that over seventy-five percent of schools in the Murmansk region, the most populated region of the whole Arctic, are in need of major repair. This data comes just weeks after Andrei Chibis, the Murmansk governor, signed a decree to cut spending on the regional education program by about $1 million US dollars. This money has already been largely relocated to the Ukraine war, as Russia diverts resources from the daily needs of its people towards its war in Europe.

Thankfully, money in the Canadian Arctic is going towards projects that hope to help those living there. On Tuesday the 10th, the Northwest Territory news agency, Cabin Radio, reported that the Taltson hydro dam expansion has a new cost estimate.

Caroline Wawzonek, the territory’s infrastructure minister, told councillors that she predicts the project’s costs have grown from about 700,000 to over $2 billion US dollars, and that as a result it will now need federal funding to complete. Even though it is expensive, the project would create the first power grid to connect communities across the Canadian Arctic.

Currently, northern communities create their own individual power systems which can be unreliable and polluting, but the Taltson dam could provide renewable energy for thousands in Canada’s north.

There are expensive infrastructure projects on the rise in Norway, too. On Friday the 13th, Marianne Sivertsen Næss, the Norwegian Fisheries Minister, announced that ports across Norway will be granted almost $9 million US dollars for upgrades, with most of it allocated to ports in the Arctic regions of Finnmark and Nordland. Sivertsen Næss said that ports are a huge value generator for Norway, bringing jobs and income on both a local and national level.

Many fishing communities in Norway have reported the need for governmental assistance, so this announcement will be a relief and help those living by the coast.

Norway’s northern spending doesn’t stop there. On Tuesday the 10th, the Norwegian Defence Ministry announced it is building a new facility on the uninhabited Arctic island of Jan Mayen, at a cost of over $150 million US dollars. Jan Mayen has typically been a place for the occasional scientist to visit and study, but with the Arctic Ocean coming under the threat of conflict, the Norwegian Army is building a base able to sustain a larger and more long-term presence on the island.

The need for a new facility is dire, with the existing building built in nineteen sixty and given a lifespan of ten years, it is in a terrible state. Scientists and soldiers alike will welcome a new station in the harsh environment of Jan Mayen.

Development in Sweden is moving forward too, but not without controversy. On Wednesday the 11th, the Swedish government granted the final permit needed for the Talga graphite mine to commence operations just outside the town of Vittangi, in the far north. The mine is controversial because the regional government blocked its opening last year due to environmental and Indigenous rights concerns.

The national government believes that the mine is so important to the country’s technological needs that, following a year of legal struggles, it has forced the local government of the Kiruna region to allow the mine to open.

Over the border in Finland, the country’s most famous seal just became a little more special. The Saimaa seal is located only in the Saimaa lake, and there are only about 500 left. A new study investigating the genetic history of this seal was published by Finnish scientists in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Tuesday the 10th. They discovered that the Saimaa seal isn’t just a subspecies of the common ringed seal, like previously thought. Instead, they are now genetically distinct enough to be considered their own unique species.

With this discovery, the Saimaa seal has become the only species to live only in Finland, making it uniquely Finnish among all animals. The researchers hope this will spark a new conservation movement to protect the seal.

Finally, moving over to Greenland, with bad news for football fans. On Tuesday the 10th, Greenland’s application to join The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football or CONCACAF, was rejected unanimously. Greenland has a national football team, but, as it is not an independent nation recognised by the UN, it has been rejected many times from joining the European football federation. Greenland changed strategy and applied to join the Americas’ federation, but the vote held on the 10th by current members was unanimously rejected.

Without being admitted to a continental footballing body, Greenland will never be allowed to compete in competitions like the World Cup. It seems only full independence will allow Greenland to compete on the world stage.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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