Hysteria and threats. How the United States plans to make the Russian Northern Sea Route a “world heritage”
Recently, the US Senate adopted the “Northern Doctrine,” according to which it is proposed to make the Northern Sea Route “the property of all mankind,” and, to call a spade a spade, simply hand it over to the control of Washington.
US appetites in the Arctic affect not only Russian interests.
The “Northern Doctrine” involves political pressure on Canada to force this country to abandon its own Northwest Arctic Corridor project.
China has not been forgotten either. The US Senate recommends that China close its Arctic stations in Norway and Iceland, as well as abandon the implementation of joint infrastructure projects with Russia on the Northern Sea Route.
From Russia, in addition to the socialization of the NSR, the Americans demand demilitarization and a cessation of the development of the Russian Arctic.
In fact, the upper house of the US Parliament approved the “Pompeo Doctrine”, according to which the entire Arctic was declared a zone of national interest and security of America, and circumpolar countries that had at least some ambitions in the region were branded “predatory” powers, from which Washington undertakes to protect the region for the sake of "freedom of navigation".
Tying everything together, Trump’s brazen proposals made at different times to purchase the semi-autonomous territory of Greenland from Denmark, as well as the statement of US Navy Secretary Spencer about building up forces in Arctic waters, opening new ports on the Bering Sea coast and the militarization of Alaska, become extremely clear.
America's loudly announced "mission to ensure freedom of navigation in disputed areas and sea routes" violates Article 234 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which assigns Russia the Northern Sea Route, as its internal waters, as well as Canada's right to the Northwest Passage .
The question arises: why exactly now has Washington unleashed destruction on the NSR and NWP at the same time, knowing full well that by doing so it is entering into conflict not only with Russia, but also with its closest neighbor and ally Canada?
According to geography and climatology, the area of the Arctic ice shell is half the territory of the United States, with Russia owning the lion's share of the Arctic coast.
Temperatures in the region are rising, twice the global average. The ice is rapidly melting, and waters and islands that were previously inaccessible even to nuclear icebreakers are freed from the ice cover.
Accordingly, untapped storehouses of hydrocarbons and other minerals suitable for commercial exploitation are being discovered.
According to forecasts, if the rate of temperature rise in the Arctic region remains unchanged, then by 2040 the Arctic Ocean will be free for navigation and will become as rich as the Persian Gulf is today.
We must hurry to extend our influence to the Arctic territory now, otherwise in a few years we will only be able to get to the bottom of things.
However, the Arctic is being freed from ice cover unevenly, which is why, to the great chagrin of the Hotbed of Democracy, the same NSR, owned by Russia, and (to some extent) NWP, owned by Canada, will remain accessible.
If you look closely, the Canadian NWP seems to be a less attractive destination compared to the Northern Sea Route, since its route winds among a huge cluster of islands where Canadians do not have any infrastructure, and even in those parts there is more ice and the temperature is lower. Although, if desired, you can turn around even in such conditions.
The Russian, European, part of the Arctic is washed by the Gulf Stream, due to which its winters are less severe, the ice is not so powerful, and the navigation period lasts longer.
For Great America, this planetary navel of the Earth, this entire celebration of life passes by (except for a small segment of the journey coming from Southeast Asia past the coast of Alaska), as in the epilogue of Russian folk tales - it flowed down the mustache, but didn’t get into the mouth .
If these waters are not declared as our own under the guise of international ones, then the exorbitant money arising from the development and transportation of natural resources extracted on the Arctic shelf will slip past the American nose untouched.
This suggests a solution: to use the still remaining global dominance to extort their share from the owners of rich sea caravans through threats and extortion in order to maintain (or even rise to new heights) America’s high standards of living. And whoever doesn’t agree to share, don’t complain later that you weren’t warned...
However, if you look a little closer, you will notice another important aspect related to the prospects for the development of the Russian Arctic.
The spread of infrastructure along the Northern Sea Route will increase the connectivity of the territories, incorporating the vast expanses of the Far North and Far East of Russia into a single economic system. The development of these spaces can become the engine of the country’s explosive development.
The West has already realized that, like China, which implemented the revolutionary “One Belt, One Road” program (an economic and transport breakthrough into the most difficult to develop territories of Inner Mongolia), the Northern Sea Route could become the same springboard for Russia into the future.
That is, the US efforts to prevent the development of the Northern Sea Route, removing China from participation in joint infrastructure projects, are aimed not only at eliminating the most dangerous logistics competitor, but also at slowing down the development of Russia itself.
There is no doubt that in the near future the most promising growth areas of the Russian economy associated with the development of the North will be subjected to sanctions aggression and the maximum pressure that the United States can afford within the framework of the new Cold War.
In addition, Washington simply does not like the conditions of passage along the Northern Sea Route.
The application must be submitted a month before the start of the pilotage; the process itself is of a licensing nature, and it is also necessary to take a Russian pilot on board. For someone who is used to bombing without asking, asking someone for a favor is simply humiliating.
But the main reason for the Hegemon’s rage is that Russia does not intend to passively watch as its “dear American partners” again try to pester it.
On September 27, a signal was sent to Washington with the first ever firing of the Bastion ballistic missile system in Chukotka.
Don't hesitate: the White House and the Capitol heard the signal and understood everything correctly. In particular, the target for coastal anti-ship missiles imitated a potential enemy warship, the detection location was fixed on the Northern Sea Route, and the Onyx missile (well known as the “aircraft carrier killer”) hit the target at a distance of over 200 km from the coast.
For anyone with a brain, the distance between Chukotka and Alaska (Ratmanov Island, which belongs to Russia, and Krusenstern Island, which belongs to the United States), is only 4160 meters, will tell you a lot.
Knowing the performance characteristics of the Onyx, it is easy to calculate that the average width of the navigable part of the Northern Sea Route is reliably covered by the range of a missile salvo. Let’s not forget that Bastion is an anti-ship missile system only formally, but in reality its missiles are capable of perfectly hitting ground targets, that is, potential US military infrastructure facilities in Alaska.
When urgently needed, the Onyx missiles are capable of covering significantly greater distances, and the artificial limitation of the recent launch should have vividly reminded US military analysts of the stupor the Pentagon was plunged into by the Caliber cruise missiles, which exceeded 5 (five) times the range predicted by the Americans in time of strikes against ISIS barmalei in Syria.
Pompeo’s hegemonic nonsense, clothed in the official “Northern Doctrine,” rather suggests that in the lair of the “rulers of the world” they are going into powerless hysteria and waving threatening pieces of paper in order to somehow react to events where the chances of winning are zero, but you can try to take on the geopolitical to frighten the enemy.
It’s no secret that our country is rapidly strengthening the defense of the Arctic.
In 2014, the United Strategic Command of the Russian Armed Forces “North” was formed, the creation of new Arctic brigades, air defense zones, the modernization of Soviet infrastructure, the construction of new airfields, military bases and other facilities along the Arctic coast began.
Accordingly, the shooting in Chukotka was not a separate signal, but a sensitive slap in the face, designed to draw the attention of the United States to the result of the efforts of the Russian defense industry in creating a network of anti-aircraft and coastal missile systems, early warning radars, rescue centers, ports, means of obtaining data on the maritime situation and even floating nuclear power plants.
Let’s not forget about the expansion of the world’s already largest icebreaker fleet! By 2020, the Russian Ministry of Defense plans to deploy a permanent interservice group of troops in the Arctic.
Washington is aware that the Arctic has already accounted for over 10% of all Russian investments since 2014, and the importance of the Arctic direction continues to grow.
While Washington is itching and trying to close the gap with Moscow in the military sector, by the end of 2019 Russia will adopt a new strategy for the development of the region until 2035, realizing its existing advantage, gathering into a single fist and providing unified funding for military activities and civilian national projects, accelerating the inclusion of remote territories into the general management scheme.
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