There is a cold war brewing in the Arctic — with Russia's "massive Russian military buildup" in the High North in need of a "new robust Western response," a former undersecretary of state urges.
In a commentary for The Wall Street Journal posted Monday, Paula J. Dobriansky, a senior fellow at Harvard's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and undersecretary of state from 2001-09, wrote the region is "of tremendous strategic importance for global trade and national security."
"Russia has been using Arctic waters as a sanctuary for its ballistic-missile-carrying submarines — the key component of its strategic nuclear forces — and wants to enhance its regional military infrastructure to protect them," she wrote. "This is driven by Moscow's longstanding view that a nuclear war can be won by a better-prepared side."
Russia began operating its own Arctic Command in 2015, and is pouring money into airfields, ports, air-defense installations, and barracks, along with military exercises and activities, she argues.
"There is not a single Western military facility in the Arctic and only a few U.S. Coast Guard assets operate there," she wrote. "A new robust Western response to the Russian military buildup in the Arctic is necessary."
Dobriansky lauds a NATO plan to create an Atlantic Command covering the Arctic, an initiative she says the Trump administration supports.
The administration "should ensure that the new command has a clear mission set addressing the alliance's interests in the Arctic," and be backed by "appropriate resources," she wrote, adding: "It would be also wise to host the new command's headquarters on American soil."
"Strong action to make the robust Atlantic Command a reality would counter Russia's military buildup and demonstrate continuing U.S. leadership within NATO and around the world," she wrote.
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