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On May 6th, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, accused Russia and China of misconduct and militarizing the Arctic, in his speech at the Arctic Summit in Rovaniemi, Finland.
In his 20-minute remarks, he talked about U.S. policy in the region and warned against China and Russia’s increasing territorial role in the region. He added, “…just because the Arctic is a place of wilderness does not mean it should become a place of lawlessness.”
Pompeo said China has national security interests in the Artic, while Russia’s activities, including plans for new shipping channels from Asia to northern Europe, needed to be monitored.
“The United States and Arctic nations welcome transparent Chinese investment that reflect economic interests, not national security ambitions,” Pompeo said.
“The Pentagon warned just last week that China could use its civilian research presence in the Arctic to strengthen its military presence, including by deploying submarines to the region as a deterrent against nuclear attacks,” he told delegates from Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden.
“We need to examine these activities closely, and keep the experience of other nations in mind. China’s pattern of aggressive behavior elsewhere will inform how it treats the Arctic.”
He also took a stab at Canada’s claims over the Northwest Passage.
“No one denies Russia has significant Arctic interests. We recognize that Russia is not the only nation making illegitimate claims: the US has a long-contested feud with Canada over sovereign claims through the Northwest Passage.”
Russia, in addition to reconstructing airfields throughout the country also plans to reinforce security in the Arctic.
“In the Northern Sea Route, Moscow already illegally demands that other nations request permission to pass, requires Russian maritime pilots to be aboard foreign ships, and threatens to use military force to sink any that fail to comply,” Pompeo said.
“These provocative actions are part of a pattern of aggressive Russian behavior in the Arctic.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that there was nothing illegal with the demand to request passage permissions, since it was in line with UN regulations and Russia’s territorial waters.
As Ivan Danilov wrote in his analysis of Pompeo’s speech for RIA Novosti:
“Moscow simply designates its rights and establishes its rules in strict accordance with international law, but, as practice shows, for our overseas opponents the very concept of international law exists only if it can be used as a tool of pressure on Washington’s opponents. And, accordingly, never in the event that its use would lead to a restriction of American interests.”
Pompeo completely disregarded climate change as a concept, and refused to sign a final declaration due to wording regarding it.
“There are different tones with which different countries want to approach climate change,” Finland’s Arctic Ambassador Aleksi Harkonen said. “It’s not about whether climate change can be mentioned or not. It will be there in the final declaration.”
Overall, two things became clear from Pompeo’s speech:
- The US discovered “traces of Russia” and “Chinese influence” in the Arctic;
- The US openly claimed its aim of establishing its control over the region and heavily contesting Russia and Chinese interests.
The idea of forbidding China to be friends with Russia in the Arctic, prohibiting the use of the Arctic Russian trade routes, prohibiting the involvement of other Arctic countries in the large-scale Chinese project Belt and Road Initiative and also prohibiting loans to these countries for the development of the Arctic transport infrastructure were all essentially suggested by the US.
Pompeo further said that to follow up on US interests in the Arctic, the construction of a modern icebreaker fleet would also begin.
Mike Pompeo and the US appeared to be alone at the Arctic Summit. According to the NYT, representatives of the participating countries and countries – observers of the Arctic Council, were extremely annoyed by the fact that the forum, which is usually used to jointly solve common Arctic issues with a special focus on environmental cooperation, was turned by the American side into another arena to clarify relations with geopolitical policies.
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American exceptionalism at it’s finest. The USA has a right to claim a portion of the arctic that’s directly adjacent to it’s Alaskan land borders. Russia the same Canada too. The USA has a right to the Northwest passage …. by going around Greenland to the Arctic Ocean NOT through Canada’s inland passages. I guess maps are kinda lost on this administration.
The optics of sending a big fat fuck to greedily argue that everything in the world is American is just priceless. They should have sent him with a bucket of KFC wearing a bib just to make it complete.
What do you expect with the yankees when it comes to geography? Bet most american dont know where the artic and the antartica
According to the bar tender in Newark, New Jersey, Holland and Amsterdam were the other side of the Hudson !!!, I gave up explaining the Netherlands after a few minutes. True Story.
As kids billeting for a hockey tournament in the Boston area we were shown wonders like trains, light switches and indoor plumbing …. that would have been around 1970. The family I was with was impressed we had lights and had knowledge of indoor plumbing, were quick learners us canucks. We told tales of going on wild bologna hunts with our dads (I got my first buck at 12 years old!) and the danger of fierce snow snakes in return. The light switches and toilets I went along with but when they showed us the train the gloves came off.
Then there was the time I at a truck stop in Minnesota when I tried to exchange a Canadian $20. CAD was at .85/USD at the time. Buddy swore that the CAD was worth $1.20 USD. I tried to tell him he was wrong but he wouldn’t listen so I traded him $100 CAD for $100 USD and he though I was the sucker.
Hehehe, I miss being a Youth, happy and ignorant as bliss.
They confuse the 2, they are virtually illiterate.
http://www.richardcyoung.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Artic-Frontline.png
You totally delusional twat, do you even know where the arctic is, you fucking Moron ?.
Oh look Nato (US) bases in the US part of the Artic.
Now STFU, you annoying wank stain; you are driving me mad.
PS Sorry about the language.
http://www.richardcyoung.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Artic-Frontline.png
And in the Moon, and in Mars! Yankees, you are really f*cked!
Pompous just practicing his trade… you know, the one he’s proud of and for which he trained… ‘lie, cheat & steal’.
He doesn’t like the idea of Russian pilots navigating ships along their coastline and calls it ‘lawlessness’. It would be as if someone prevented Iranian tankers from crossing the Suez Canal.
What happened again Pompeo is f**rting again? Oh boy
We should lead, from the rear.
HAHA made me laugh.
Crossword clue–pompous fool 6 letters.
the morons are worried, more than worried – desperate since russia and china have found yet another way bypassing the morons natural checkpoints. what a larf.