, Columnist
Putin Is Crushing the Arctic Ice While the US Is Barely Afloat
Russia is building up combat power in the polar region, and NATO needs a plan to counter him.
Ice king.
Photographer: Pavel Bednyakov/AFP/Getty Images
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Ukraine was rightly the major focus at this week’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Washington. And as the meeting’s communiqué attests, the 75-year-old alliance has lots of other pressing challenges: in the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific, cyberspace and elsewhere.
Relatively little attention is paid, however, to a zone of geopolitical competition that could soon become a flashpoint for conflict: the Arctic. Russia is on the move up north, and to a lesser extent so is China. What should NATO consider as it looks at the polar region?