In early March, a few outspoken voices in Iceland, a country not known for its stable economy in recent years, floated the idea of switching from the krona to the Canadian dollar. The leader of the opposition Progressive Party, Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, said, “If we are going to adopt another currency, then the Canadian dollar looks […]
In August 2007, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced plans to build a deep water port at Nanisivik, where remnants of an old port and airfield from the area’s nickel mining days would serve as the foundations for further construction. New docking and refueling facilities were to be built, thus turning Nanisivik into an important site […]
I’ve never been north of the Arctic Circle – until now, in a commercial airplane. From my window seat on a 14-hour flight from Newark to Tokyo, I caught several glimpses of the Arctic’s west and far east. In between stretching my legs in place, flipping through the on-demand movie offerings, and poking at the […]
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a research agency housed within of the U.S. Department of Defense, is looking to develop new remote sensing technologies in order to monitor the Arctic both above and below the ice and enhance regional maritime security. DARPA tends to support high-risk, high-reward projects with a futuristic bent. It […]
I will be on vacation until March 19. In the meantime, check out Eye on the Arctic and the Barents Observer to stay up to date on northern happenings. See you in two weeks!
It is widely known that Russia and Canada are not the best of friends in the Arctic. They are the first and second largest countries in the region, and both base their Arctic policies heavily on the concept of sovereignty and the sanctity of territory. In part due to the lukewarm relations between the two […]
Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade has issued tenders to construct new types of vessels and infrastructure for the Arctic. The tenders call for the following [1]: Light and heavy Arctic surface-effect ships: 458 million rubles/$15.7 million Ground effect vehicles for the Far North: 70 million rubles $2.4 million High-speed sea and river catamarans (“Alligators”): […]
Next week, Scandinavia House, a Nordic cultural center located in New York City, will host “Greenland Week,” with three artistic and cultural programs dedicated to shedding light on the remote island. On Wednesday, February 29 and Friday, March 2, a coming-of-age movie called Inuk about a troublesome boy sent from the capital, Nuuk, to live […]
On Thursday, the House passed the Protecting Investment in Oil Shale, the Next Generation of Environmental, Energy and Resource Security (PIONEERS) Act, H.R. 3408, with a vote of 237-187. Though oil shale drilling is ostensibly the main topic of the bill, with its passage, the House has also approved drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife […]
Boris Nemtsov, co-president of the opposition People’s Freedom Party in Russia, has spoken out against Putin’s stance in the Arctic – in Canada. He is currently crossing the True North Strong and Free on a speaking tour organized by the Central and Eastern European Council. Nemtsov has been an outspoken critic of Prime Minister Vladimir […]
The Chinese Ambassador to Canada, H.E. Zhang Junsai, spoke at a luncheon at the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations today. The Montreal Gazette has an article on his talk, emphasizing the fact that he twice affirmed that China is committed to peace in the Arctic. A member of the audience that the newspaper reported to […]
Earlier this month, Denmark appointed Klavs A. Holm as the new Arctic Ambassador, an office which will become permanent. At the same time, Danish Foreign Minister Villy Søvndal announced the closure of the embassies in Iraq, Benin, and Zambia. This move gives a strong signal that Denmark is putting forth a more visible diplomatic presence […]
First it was server cooling rooms. Now, new, trans-Arctic telecommunications cables might be the next big thing up north. At this year’s Pacific Telecommunications Council conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, there was much talk about a potential subsea optical transmission cable that could be laid under the Arctic Ocean thanks to the melting ice cap. Network […]
Royal Canadian Navy Intelligence Officer Jeffrey Delisle was arrested in Halifax last week for espionage. He is being charged under the Security of Information Act with “breach of trust and communicating safeguarded information to a foreign entity” between July 6, 2007 and January 13, 2012, the date on which he was arrested. This is the […]
Updated Below The isolation of Nome, Alaska has garnered the small city a certain degree of infamy. No roads lead to the city of 3,500 from the rest of the state. The only way in is by plane, ship, or dogsled, as was done in 1925 to bring emergency medical supplies to residents. Now, […]