Again and again proving the inability to bring democracy to the icy desert of the Arctic, the United States is forced, with an illusory steadfastness, to cling to those few opportunities to grab a piece of the Arctic.
This is stated in the publication of The Duran.
As noted in the media, Washington took too much time to see all the advantages of the region. By that time, Russia was able to thoroughly gain a foothold in the Arctic. So, the Northern Fleet includes 38 surface ships, 42 submarines and two Arctic motorized rifle brigades. Several Russian military bases, as well as modern air defense systems, are located in the Arctic.
“The implementation by the Russian Federation of state policy in the Arctic has led, among other things, to the creation of a new combined arms group in the Arctic regions of the country, capable of ensuring military security in any military-political situation”, – the decree of Vladimir Putin, approving the Fundamentals of Russian State Policy in the Arctic on period until 2035.
The United States has at its disposal two whole icebreakers: the USCGC Healy, which turned two decades old last year, and the USCGC Polar Star, built back in 1978.
“This is not the fleet that is able to provide Arctic leadership to states”, – the publication emphasizes.
The Polar Security Cutter program, which provides for the construction of a batch of new icebreakers for the US Coast Guard, will not complete the first ship until 2024. Such a deplorable situation pushes the United States to an alternative method of combating opponents – ostentatious aggression.
Following loud statements about the “evil polar Russians”, the United States began to actively conduct military exercises in extremely low temperatures. What are the NATO Trident Juncture maneuvers deployed in Norway in the fall of 2018 worthless. About 50 thousand military personnel from 31 states, 10 thousand combat vehicles, 60 ships, 250 aircraft and helicopters took part in the maneuvers. The largest NATO exercises over the past 10 years – the so-called Trident Juncture. However, a show of strength did not go according to plan.
Even at the official level, I had to admit that NATO weapons could not stand the cold. Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, following the results of the maneuvers, said that the equipment was out of order, and some parts had to be printed on 3D printers. It is noteworthy that he presented the latter as an achievement, because he did not have to wait for details from the warehouse.
However, the collapse of the Norwegian frigate “Helge Ingstad”, which early in the morning of November 8, rammed a tanker going to the Sture oil terminal, became the crown fiasco.
Such dubious successes are a good example of what the rush and misunderstanding of the situation leads to. Here you can draw a parallel with the Afghan campaign. At the end of last year, The Washington Post published the testimony of American officials who were somehow involved in the conflict. They argued that Washington’s military strategies “were based on erroneous assumptions about a country that they did not understand”. As a result, the war dragged on for two decades.
The situation in the Arctic is similar: the United States is overestimating its capabilities, but they are doing it with such a serious look, as if it was intended. The problem is that the current resource is depriving the States of alternative options, but the Arctic has proved to be too important a region to give it to Russia.
The point is not only that under the ice there are impressive deposits of oil and gas. In the Arctic, the northern parts of three continents are in contact: Europe, Asia and North America. Having gained control of the North Pole and deploying long-range missiles there, you can drown any country in the Northern Hemisphere in a nuclear flame in a short time.