Greenland’s Previously Strong Focus Toward the US Is up for Change Moving Forward Bodø (High North News): With strained relations with the US, the Greenlandic government may be revisiting relationships with alternative international partners—likely looking back east to Europe and other partners to a greater extent, says Associate Professor Rasmus Leander Nielsen at the University of Greenland.
Greenland Election: Demokraatit Emerges as the Island’s Largest Political Party Over 28,000 Greenlanders have voted for a significant new composition of their parliament, Inatsisartut. The government formation process is now led by Demokraatit, which won the most votes. There is a majority in parliament for Greenlandic independence in the longer term.
Greenlanders Vote in a Momentous Election: Six Parties Compete for 31 Seats Today, March 11, the people of Greenland elect their representatives to the Greenlandic parliament, Inatsisartut. In and around the election are major questions about the island's future, both in relation to the Kingdom of Denmark and Donald Trump's USA.
Norwegian PM Støre: We Should Be Able to Find Solutions With Russia Tromsø, Northern Norway: Norway is used to dealing with Russia and finding solutions to important issues, says the Norwegian PM. A strong trust in the Norwegian Russia competence was common among several researchers, politicians, and officials that attended the Arctic Frontiers conference.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Will Not Promise any Guarantee of Fast-Track Processing of Finnish-Swedish NATO Application “Achieving NATO membershipmaygo very fast for Sweden and Finland. However, it is not like their applications are pre-approved at NATO already”, says Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt (Labor).
The Government Increases Sea, Land, and Intelligence Activity in the North The Norwegian defense capacity in the High North is to be strengthened through immediate measures due to facing a changed security policy context, the Norwegian government states in a new whitepaper on defense.
Hard Security Focus May Once Again Come to Dominate the Arctic, Researcher Fears Arctic cooperation may still survive the Ukraine crisis, however, it can nevertheless be overshadowed by the emphasis on military security, which ruled the ground during the Cold War, Finnish Professor Timo Koivurova points out.
Norwegian Foreign Minister: The War Changes Norwegian Security and Foreign Policy “Norway has an unstable and more dangerous Russian neighbor that will affect Norwegian High North policy”, says Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt (Labor).
May Be Harder to Attend Arctic Council Meetings in Russia A further escalation in Ukraine may have repercussions for the political contact through the Arctic Council, says Senior Research Fellow Andreas Østhagen at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute. “I would assume it might be difficult for Norway and the other Arctic countries’ foreign ministers to go to Moscow if a summit were to be held in the near future.”
Norwegian PM Jonas Gahr Støre: We Cannot Leave an Empty Void on the Border to Russia and the Arctic A continuing drop in population figures for the North is a major security policy challenge, said Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Labor) in his High North speech in Tromsø, Norway last Thursday.
Conflict Spillover from Ukraine to the Baltic Sea and the Arctic In the currently strained security situation, the Arctic is connected to the militarily tense Baltic Lake region. The conflict between Russia and the West currently has ripple effects in North European waters and will also have such effects even further north, argues Swedish military analyst.
Cold Response 2022: 35,000 Soldiers from 26 Countries in Northern Military Exercise “This will be the largest Norwegian-led exercise conducted in Norway since the 1980s”, says Spokesperson at the Norwegian Joint Operations Headquarters Preben Aursand. The majority of activities will take place in Northern Norway.
Not to Ruin the Mood for You, but There Might Be War Commentary: “And I would like to close with this”. Norwegian PM Jonas Gahr Støre looks up from the manuscript and into the TV camera. The PM has just finished a brutal run-through of the state of the country in which the pandemic and an energy crisis are the main ingredients, yet he has more on his heart.
We Welcome Increased US Interest, Says Norwegian Defense Minister Norwegian Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen (Conservatives) tells of increasing US interest in Norway’s immediate neighborhood, amongst others as a result of great power rivalry. “The USA is not forcing itself on us. We want its presence here”, he stresses.
Russian Ambassador Summoned Following Violation of Danish Airspace: “Inacceptable breach” On Monday, Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod summoned Russia’s ambassador to a meeting following Russian fighter planes violating Danish airspace twice in one day.
Arctic Ambassadors Summit at High North Dialogue 2021 "The fact that all the Arctic countries attend and are willing to face each other before an audience says something about their will to keep the dialogue running despite new challenges in the north", says Arne O. Holm, Editor-in-Chief at High North News.
Russia Using New Franz Josef Land Air Base The Russian armed forces have started using the new runway at Nagurskoye in Franz Josef Land, the Russian Arctic, according to the Norwegian intelligence services’ report Fokus 2021.
Smart Cities May Constitute Security Risk, Says PST An increasing number of state and municipal institutions digitalize and coordinate parts of their operations. Some state and private actors are naïve when it comes to digital threat perception, says Section Chief Hanne Blomberg of PST, the Norwegian Police Security Services.
Russia Should Be Invited Back to Arctic Security Forums, New Report Suggests “When deterrence and military posturing are more or less the only signaling that takes place in the Arctic, that may lead to an accelerating security policy challenge in the future," says former Chief of the Royal Norwegian Navy, Lars Saunes. In a report from the U.S. Naval War College, he looks at measures to improve security dialogue in the High North.
High North Whitepaper: “Contributes to Further Militarization of Norway’s Most Important Strategic Neighborhood” Last Friday, the Norwegian government launched a whitepaper on the High North. “The whitepaper appears to continue a policy that is mainly about playing hardball when it comes to Russia”, says Lieutenant Colonel of the Norwegian Army and Professor at the Norwegian Defense Command and Staff College Tormod Heier.
China's Ambassador: “Threat has been a must-be word for some US officials when they talk about China” “The question of whether the commercial cooperation between China and Norway, Russia and other Arctic countries constitutes a security-related issue should be answered by the countries themselves, not the US,” China's Ambassador to Norway Yi Xianliang tells High North News.
Rejects Notion that China is a Threat to the Arctic “We do not perceive China to be a threat to NATO; however, the Alliance also has to relate to Chinas increasing role on the international arena”, says State Secretary Audun Halvorsen of the Norwegian MFA.
What future will the West choose in the Arctic? The Arctic is of strategic importance for the sovereignty of Western states. NATO and its Allies must rapidly implement a unified Arctic strategy to engage in a long term development of its capabilities. Only then will the West achieve a balance of power and be one of the major Arctic players alongside China and Russia in the 21st century.
