War in the Arctic

Ten thousand years of Arctic pack ice is melting away, opening up a $30 trillion trade route and a dangerous arena for great power confrontation. Putin is determined to make Russia’s slice of the formerly frozen North matter, but China too sees itself as a Polar power. Arthur Snell charts a vast and game-changing development where climate change could upend the global balance of maritime power. Could the struggle to control a newly-navigable Arctic Ocean become the Great Game of the 21st Century?

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• “It’s an ecological disaster but a geopolitical opportunity, and Russia is determined to take advantage.” – Arthur Snell
• “Planting a flag on the Arctic sea floor marked a turning point for Putin. Russia was now determined to be a great power on the move.” – Klaus Dodds
• “We’ve lost three quarters of the Arctic’s pack ice in my lifetime.” – Ben Saunders
• “The potential is absolutely there for an uncontrollable hot conflict between Russia and NATO in the Arctic.” – Robert Clark
• “Thanks to climate change the Arctic is effectively a new ocean that China wants to control.” – Arthur Snell

Photograph: Getty Images

Written and presented by Arthur Snell. Produced by Robin Leeburn. Assistant producer: Jacob Archbold. Original music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com . Group Editor Andrew Harrison. Doomsday Watch is a Podmasters production.

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