Arctic

Today, I will explore the linkages between two concepts of the sublime – the natural and the technological – and the Arctic. In the book, “American Technological Sublime,” author David Nye explores how the U.S. has established its national character through the use of the technological sublime. Readers may be familiar with the work of […]

At the last Arctic Council meeting in Nuuk, Greenland in May 2011, the eight member states decided to form a task force to write an agreement on Arctic marine oil pollution preparedness and response. This past week in Reykjavik, Iceland, delegates from the eight Arctic Council member states met again for a fifth round of […]

Iceland sits right on the divide between the North American and Eurasian continental plates. A little hotspot of volcanic activity in the North Atlantic, it has tried to rediscover its geopolitical identity several times over the past century. I recently read Klaus Dodds and Valur Ingimundarson’s article in the Polar Journal, “Territorial nationalism and Arctic […]

Russia has just launched a drifting ice station in the Arctic with 16 people on board. The researchers will be carrying out all sorts of studies as they drift through the Arctic, working in oceanography, meteorology, and glaciology. The flag was raised on North Pole-40 (NP-40), aptly (and a bit oddly) named “Russia,” at 85°12′ […]

Nunavut, Canada is home to a wealth of mineral resources, yet it suffers from a dearth of high-speed internet. New developments in both of those areas could bring big changes to the territory. First, after four years of assessment and analysis, the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) approved the Mary River iron mine on Baffin Island, in […]

Last week, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak visited Norway for two days. He met with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg to discuss trade relations, political cooperation, and North Korea. The two countries signed two memoranda of understanding. The first concerns environmentally-conscientious shipbuilding, which makes sense given the two countries’ heavy involvement in the industry. South […]

Russia oversees the world’s largest fleet of nuclear icebreakers, and it will soon add the largest one yet to its tally. Rosatom, which currently manages Russia’s fleet of new icebreakers through its subsidiary, Atomflot, has just signed a contract with the St.Petersburg-based shipbuilding company Baltisky Zavod to construct a 556-foot long behemoth – about 42 […]

SDS-Ugol, a major coal producer in Russia, has announced plans to build a new seaport outside of Murmansk that will accommodate up to 18 million tons of coal exports a year. Many of the company’s coal mines are located in the Kuzbass region in Siberia. From there, much of the coal is shipped by rail […]

Canada may have the second largest oil reserves in the world, but the vast majority are locked up in Alberta’s oil sands, far from any ocean. That means that pipelines are needed to transport the oil west to ports on Canada’s Pacific Coast or south to markets in the United States. With President Barack Obama […]

As I mentioned in my previous post, Putin’s administration is busy readying the Northern Sea Route for increased maritime traffic. In order to maintain control over the shipping lane, Russia will need a first-class navy and naval bases. Plans are underway to equip the navy with eight new nuclear submarines by 2020. Last month, at […]

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s administration is trying to get a leg up on development of the Northern Sea Route. Earlier this week, Secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev stated to RIA Novosti that the amount of state supervision and control over the Northern Sea Route was “not acceptable,” especially in the eastern part. […]

In mid-July, the U.S. Coast Guard opened its forward operating location (FOL) for the summer in Barrow, Alaska, where they will remain until October. This year, their mission, entitled Operation Arctic Shield, will focus on operations, outreach, and capability assessment. Since February, the Coast Guard’s 17th District, which oversees Alaska, has been working closely with […]