Amid rising tensions due to climate change, the Finnish Defense Forces conducted a military drill involving American troops, signaling an urgent response to perceived vulnerabilities in the Arctic region. As sea ice diminishes, the once isolated Arctic is emerging as a crucial strategic frontier. Major military powers like the U.S., Russia, and China are adapting their strategies to this new reality. Experts emphasize that over the past five or six years, the focus of military planning has shifted significantly from combating terrorism to preparing for potential conflicts in previously overlooked areas like the Arctic, highlighting its new geopolitical significance.
As climate change melts ice across the Arctic, this part of the world, once so remote and forgotten, is becoming more accessible and more contested.
It's really only been the past five or six years that everybody's moved on from the global war on terror, said Robert McBride, a Canadian brigadier general helping oversee the war game.
Arctic nations are starting to understand the strategic importance, he said. The Arctic now has come to pre-eminence.
Before the Ukraine war, the Finns say, Russia was investing in its Arctic forces.
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