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EuropaInternacionalOrden MundialInternacionalOTAN,  

Hace poco las autoridades rusas amenazaron con dirigir misiles nucleares a barcos de guerra daneses si Dinamarca se une al sistema de defensa antimisiles de la OTAN, en lo que evidentemente es una escandalosa amenaza contra un país sin intención alguna de atacar a Rusia. También refleja un factor más fundamental de la política exterior del Kremlin: la desesperación por conservar su influencia estratégica en tiempos de un cuestionamiento sin precedentes a su autoridad.

Por supuesto, los líderes rusos saben muy bien que las defensas antimisiles de la OTAN no se dirigen a su país. De 2009 a 2014, el periodo en que fui Secretario General de la OTAN, recalcamos una y otra vez que su fin era defender a los miembros de la Alianza ante  amenazas que pudieran proceder del área euroatlántica.…  Seguir leyendo »

EuropaInternacionalOrden MundialInternacionalOTAN,  

Russian authorities recently threatened to aim nuclear missiles at Danish warships if Denmark joins NATO’s missile-defense system. This was obviously an outrageous threat against a country that has no intention of attacking Russia. But it also reflects a more fundamental factor in the Kremlin’s foreign policy: desperation to maintain Russia’s strategic influence at a time of unprecedented challenges to its authority.

Of course, Russia’s leaders know very well that NATO’s missile defense is not directed at their country. When I served as NATO secretary general from 2009 to 2014, we repeatedly emphasized that the purpose was to defend alliance members from threats originating outside the Euro-Atlantic area.…  Seguir leyendo »

The battle for the Arctic’s resources heats up

MundoAméricaEuropa, , , ,  

A couple of years ago, a Canadian minister proudly declared that Santa Claus was a citizen of Canada. After all, his home and toy factory are at the North Pole, which, according to the minister’s interpretation, belongs to Canada.

Though Santa Claus has not commented on the matter, it is now clear that he could choose several passports when he travels the world. In 2007, a privately funded mini-submarine planted a Russian flag directly beneath his alleged home. And last month, Denmark, which has sovereignty over Greenland, staked its own territorial claim, also covering the North Pole.

By filing its claim with the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, Denmark has joined our era’s “great game”: the contest for economic control over a large part of the Arctic.…  Seguir leyendo »

La disputa sobre la procedencia de Santa Claus

MundoAméricaEuropa, , , ,  

Hace un par de años, un ministro canadiense declaró con orgullo que Santa Claus era un ciudadano del Canadá. Al fin y al cabo, su hogar y su fábrica de juguetes están en el Polo Norte, que, según la interpretación del ministro, pertenece al Canadá.

Aunque Santa Claus no ha comentado ese asunto, ahora está claro que, cuando viaja por el mundo el 24 de diciembre, podría elegir varios pasaportes. En 2007, un minisubmarino con financiación privada plantó una bandera rusa directamente debajo de su supuesto hogar y, hace dos semanas, Dinamarca, que tiene la soberanía sobre Groenlandia, señaló su propia reivindicación territorial, que también abarcaba el Polo Norte.…  Seguir leyendo »

Internacional, , , , , , , ,

Much too often, diplomacy is behind the curve in struggling with developments unfolding in ways not foreseen.

But when the Arctic Council meets in Kiruna in northern Sweden in the next few days, it is a rare example of a framework set up to deal with events well before they really start to happen, thus making it possible to shape events rather than reacting to things that have already gone wrong.

The Arctic Council was set up between the eight Arctic states, with representatives of the indigenous peoples as permanent participants, in Ottawa in 1996. But in its first years it hardly registered on the international scene.…  Seguir leyendo »

Internacional, , , , , , , ,

With global warming rapidly melting Arctic sea ice and glaciers making valuable stores of energy and minerals more accessible, voices of doom are warning of inevitable competition and potential conflict — a new “Great Game” among the five Arctic coastal nations.

In fact, the Arctic states of North America, Europe and Russia, working with indigenous peoples and a number of non-Arctic states, already have taken steps to ensure just the opposite: that the Arctic remains a zone of cooperation, peace and stable, sustainable development.

The Arctic Council — the intergovernmental organization for the eight Arctic states: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States — has created a forum for cooperation and momentum toward a responsible approach to the region’s issues.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAméricaEuropa, , , , , ,

The drastic climatic changes in the Arctic, viewed first-hand this week by an ‘alarmed’ UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, are threatening to unleash not only environmental catastrophe on the rest of the world but a furious political struggle between competing regional governments.

The Arctic Five - the US, Russia, Norway, Canada and Denmark (Greenland) - are scrambling to secure territorial rights to disputed and hitherto unclaimed parts of the world’s last great wilderness. This is partly because the retreat of local sea ice is opening up to exploitation what many leading experts think could be massive reserves of petroleum- even as much as 13% of the world’s undiscovered oil and 30% of its undiscovered natural gas.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAméricaEuropa, , , , ,

With the Arctic ice melting, anticipated increases in Arctic shipping, tourism and economic activity, and Russia’s flag-planting at the North Pole last summer, there has been much talk in the press about a “race to the Arctic” and even some calls for a new treaty to govern the “lawless” Arctic region.

We should all cool down. While there may be a need to expand cooperation in some areas, like search and rescue, there is already an extensive legal framework governing the region. The five countries bordering the Arctic Ocean — the United States, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Russia — have made clear their commitment to observe these international legal rules.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAméricaEuropaUnión Europea, , , , , , ,

Aboard Training Vessel Arctic Tern, off Newport, R.I.

Russia’s flag-planting caper at the North Pole last week captured the world’s attention. Harking back to the heady days of colonial imperialism and perhaps the success of Sputnik, a resurgent Russia dispatched from Murmansk a nuclear-powered icebreaker and a research vessel armed with two mini-submarines to stake a symbolic claim to the Arctic Ocean’s riches. Russia hopes that leaving its flag encased in titanium more than 13,200 feet beneath the frozen surface bolsters its 2001 claim that the Lomonosov Ridge is a geological extension of its continental shelf and thus the 460,000 square miles of resource-rich Arctic waters stretching from the North Pole to Eurasia fall under the Kremlin’s jurisdiction.…  Seguir leyendo »