US Coast Guard’s New Plan & more – 31st Oct 2023

Góðan daginn from Keswick Village! This is Rorshok Arctic Update from the 31st of October twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what’s going down North of the Arctic Circle!

We are starting the week with a bold new plan for the Arctic. On Thursday, the 26th, the US Coast Guard released The Arctic Strategic Outlook Implementation Plan. The report outlines fourteen initiatives to enhance safety, security, and environmental stewardship in the Arctic. The plan aims to reinforce the Coast Guard's commitment to safeguarding American interests in the Arctic. It commits the Coast Guard to deal with items such as developing a new fleet of Icebreaker ships and aircraft, increasing multilateral cooperation with other Arctic nations, and enhancing oil spill preparedness.

Want to know more about the plan? Follow the link in the show notes!

On Friday, the 27th, The United States took an active step in this new Arctic strategy by opening a diplomatic station in Tromsø, Norway. This station will be the northernmost diplomatic station in US history, highlighting the region's growing importance for Washington. Tromsø, the largest city in Arctic Norway, sits just 250 miles (or 400 kilometers) west of Russia, and this newly established post will actively focus on business outreach, scientific endeavors, and fostering cooperation within the Arctic Council.

As the US commits to increasing Arctic investment, Russia emphasizes its military dominance in the region. On Tuesday the 24th, Russia showcased its ability to maneuver powerful missiles from the Baltic Sea to the North, avoiding NATO-controlled Scandinavia. A vessel launched a Kalibr missile, which can hold a nuclear warhead, striking its target in the remote Nenets region, near Finland. In a separate move on Wednesday, the 25th, Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw a missile exercise in Northwest Russia. These exercises took place amidst ongoing nuclear tensions between the country and NATO, including Russia's recent withdrawal from the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. Russia is also considering stationing missile vessels in the Ladoga lakes near Finland as a strategic response to NATO's expansion.

Speaking of Russian tensions, on Wednesday the 25th, a ceremony held in the Norwegian town of Kirkenes created a diplomatic incident. At a monument commemorating that in nineteen forty-four, Soviet troops liberated Norway from Nazi Germany, Norway placed a ceremonial wreath. However, later, a Russian general put two of his wreaths on top of the Norwegian wreath, which Norway considered disrespectful. Even though no one wanted to touch the Russian wreath as a military general placed it, Kirkenes Mayor Magnus Mæland moved it next to the original Norwegian one. The Russian government said this was very disrespectful.

So on Friday the 27th, Mayor Mæland was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry and accused him of “...russophobia, disrespect and infringement of the memory of warriors and liberators…” in a press release issued the same day. Tensions between the border towns of Norway and Russia remain high and show little sign of abating soon.

They weren’t the only European countries with diplomatic tensions to deal with. In Brussels, on Thursday the 26th, Petteri Orpo, Finnish Prime Minister, met with Kaja Kallas, the Estonian Prime Minister, and Swedish Premier Ulf Kristersson to discuss ongoing investigations into the damage to the Balticconnector gas pipeline and underwater telecoms cables. They also focused on enhancing the security of critical Baltic Sea infrastructure. Orpo disclosed that Helsinki is collaborating with Beijing to probe the freighter NewNew Polar Bear’s potential connection to the undersea gas pipeline damage. The ship had just returned from China’s first shipping route across the Arctic Ocean when it moved into Finnish waters at the same time the damage was inflicted. Finnish authorities recently recovered an anchor, likely from a Chinese freighter, which probably caused the damage. While the cause remains uncertain, investigators are actively examining the ship's role.

The freighter under investigation, NewNew Polar Bear, is set to re-enter Russian-controlled waters this week. Torgmoll, a Russian-registered company, is operating the vessel after being transferred from the operator Hainan Xin Xin Yang Shipping Co. If it remained a Chinese ship, then there would be a paperwork delay, which would risk Finnish (or other European) investigators arresting the ship. This move highlights the increasing cooperation between Russia and China in Arctic affairs, showcasing their mutual support. Finnish authorities said they would have arrested the ship if it had not left Finnish waters swiftly. This shift places the vessel outside European jurisdiction.

Investigators may struggle to access the ship, with it traveling to China via Russia.

Russia’s own Arctic investment builds at a rapid pace. Russia's Rosatom and Dubai's DP World, major shipping companies, signed a new deal on Tuesday, the 24th, to boost container shipping along the Northern Sea Route. DP World, which operates over eighty container terminals in forty countries, holding ten percent of global container shipping volume, aims to expand its reach. This partnership underscores Russia's efforts to transform the route into an international transport and logistics corridor, while other countries, such as India, also consider collaboration for Arctic shipping. Russia seeks to increase Arctic shipping traffic to almost 300 million tonnes by twenty thirty-five. As the country currently does not have the shipping infrastructure to achieve this alone, it is inviting worldwide traffic into the Arctic Ocean to accomplish its goals.

China is taking opportunities to invest in Arctic infrastructure, too. The Nechalacho mine in Northwestern Canada agreed to a $13 million Canadian dollar, or about $9 million US dollars, deal with Chinese company Shenghe Resource Holdings on Thursday the 26th to clear debts and progress development. The Canadian government has championed keeping its natural resources out of Chinese hands, so this deal will likely come under scrutiny from local and federal governments.

Arctic warming continues to have many consequences. According to a study published on Thursday, the 26th, a team of scientists from various US institutions has discovered that Arctic cyclones have become more frequent and stronger in the last fifty years due to weather changes. This trend aligns with the rapid warming of the Arctic, leading to delayed ice formation and earlier melting. Researchers analyzed climate data dating back to the nineteen fifties and found that these cyclones are not only larger and more potent but also longer-lasting. These powerful storms accelerate the breakup of sea ice, further exacerbating climate change in the Arctic, in addition to increasing the risk to human life.

Over to Iceland, where from Tuesday the 24th to Saturday the 28th, a seismic wave with thousands of tremors has struck the Reykjanes Peninsula in the southwest. The Icelandic Meteorological Office suggests this could be a warning sign of a volcanic eruption. The recent swarm of over 7,000 small earthquakes, concentrated in a few days, is uncommon. Experts believe this indicates an impending volcanic eruption within the next year, with increased pressure building from accumulated magma. In twenty ten, the volcano Eyjafjallajökull explosively erupted and caused air travel across the European continent to shut down. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to predict whether a new eruption will be locally contained or cause another large-scale incident.

Finally, this week, a remote Indigenous group in North America sets out to preserve their language. The Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska and Western Canada speak the language of Lingít, which UNESCO lists as Critically Endangered. That’s why the release on Friday the 27th of a new children’s book written entirely in Lingít is such an achievement. The book Kuhaantí, which means Orphan, is the first entirely Lingít language book written in decades. Author X̱ʼunei Lance Twitchell hopes the book will inspire the Tlingit people who have lost their language to learn it and keep their history alive. Eight more books are being written, and Twitchell says the goal is to give everyone on Lingít land free copies of the whole series.

And that's it for this week!

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Adjo!