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Arctic: Federal government warns against militarization

2019-11-21T16:19:58.081Z


Valuable resources, shorter shipping routes, rich fishing grounds - in the Arctic, there is a gold rush atmosphere. According to SPIEGEL information, the federal government now fears military tensions between the major powers.



Little time? At the end of the text there is a summary.

Above, white, blue in the middle, red below - the buildings bear the Russian national colors and are still brand new. Between 2015 and 2017, Russia reactivated a military complex from the Cold War period on the Arctic archipelago of Franz Josef Land.

Recordings of the Russian Ministry of Defense show how much the Nagurskaya military base, the northernmost of the country, has been modernized. In addition to the construction of several residential and technical buildings, this includes the construction of the two and a half kilometers long runway. This can now also be used by Mig-31 and Su-34 fighters, bombers could also start from here. They could not get far into the US airspace over the Pole.

The modernization of the military airfield is just one example of how Russia's military has focused its attention on the area around the North Pole in recent years. According to observers, the country has reopened a total of about a dozen bases.

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"The Arctic has become a key region of world politics," begins a response from the federal government to a parliamentary question from the left-wing parliamentary group, which will be published on Friday. And above all, this has to do with the consequences of global warming: The region is currently heating up more than twice as fast as the rest of the planet. Both the extent and volume of sea ice are far below the mean and will not recover.

The first US aircraft carrier for 30 years is in the Arctic

This makes the exploitation of raw materials in the polar region interesting. Strategically important are also new shipping routes, such as off the Russian north coast, through the northern Canadian island world or - in the future - directly over the Pole.

Like their Russian counterparts, NATO soldiers prepare themselves for maneuvers and practice flights for missions in the far north. Marines of the US Army train in Norway, the Air Force uses the base Thule in northern Greenland as a listening point for missile defense. And the Navy has recently reactivated its 2nd Fleet to face Russia in the North Atlantic. Last year, for the first time in 30 years, "USS Harry S. Truman" was even a US aircraft carrier in the Arctic as part of the Nato big exercise "Trident Juncture".

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"The militarization of the Arctic is no longer just a hypothetical issue, it is already underway," says Malte Humpert of the Arctic Institute, an international think tank that has been involved with the region for years.

The Federal Government apparently sees this similar. "States are increasingly securing their interests in the Arctic from a military point of view," reads the response to the Left Group, which is in the SPIEGEL. "Multilateral standards and norms, codicies and conflict resolution mechanisms" would be increasingly called into question "throughout the world", which "places increased pressure on international cooperation in the Arctic region," continues the 33-page paper.

Russia builds military icebreaker

Expert Humpert describes the situation as follows: While a few years ago it was all about questions of security, the polar states would have been interested in purchasing new icebreakers and better monitoring of the Arctic sea lanes, a militarization could now be observed Offensive weapons and equipment, such as cruise missiles and ice-capable warships, will be stationed in the region. "

Russia is currently building the military icebreaker "Ivan Papanin", which in addition to cruise missiles and a powerful artillery gun will also have seats for anti-submarine helicopters. In the assessment of the Federal Government is generally speaking that "the boundaries between offensive and defensive options for action [... ...] blurred" would.

So what do you do? According to its own statement, the Federal Government "focuses its efforts on early detection and containment of crisis potential and conflicts in the Arctic region". It advocates "multilateral cooperation, especially in the Arctic Council". It is committed to "preserving the Arctic as a low-conflict region and its peaceful use."

The Arctic Council includes Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Canada, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the US, as well as indigenous people such as the Sami and the Inuit. They talk about environmental issues, but not about military issues. Germany, like other states and organizations, has observer status. However, expert Humpert deplores the often bad mood in the deliberations of the panel. The sound has changed "sustainably". The US had "repeatedly accused Russia and China of aggressive behavior in the region."

MP criticizes contradictory signals

According to the Federal Government, the future of the polar region should not only be negotiated in the Arctic Council anyway. The European Union and NATO should also focus more on the region, the government paper said. However, Andrej Hunko, European political spokesman for the Left Group in the Bundestag, also criticizes the German Arctic policy as "very contradictory".

On the one hand, according to Hunko, one argues for the preservation of the Arctic as a low-conflict region. On the other hand, "the Bundeswehr is increasingly being sent to military maneuvers in the Arctic region and seems to be preparing for operations there, but the Bundeswehr has lost nothing in the Arctic snow," said the parliamentarian. Last year German soldiers actually participated in a total of four Arctic maneuvers: "Arctic Challenge" (Norway, Sweden, Finland), "Dynamic Mongoose" (Norway), Joint Arctic Training (Norway) and "Nanook-Nunalivut" (Canada).

Germany should focus instead in the Arctic on a peaceful cooperation with other states in the field of research and environmental policy, demands left-wing politician Hunko. And this also happens: German researchers are currently leading the largest polar expedition of all time, during which the icebreaker "Polarstern" drifts with the pack ice through the Arctic until next fall.

In summary: The Federal Government considers the Arctic to be a "key region of world politics". At the same time, in response to a parliamentary question from the Left Group, it warns that states are "increasingly militarily" protecting their interests in the polar region. International co-operation was "increasingly burdened also in the Arctic region". To solve the problems, the government supports "multilateral cooperation, especially in the Arctic Council".

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2019-11-21

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