The Arctic region is quietly becoming the location of intense new competition between the great powers of US, China and Russia that could lead to direct conflict. This is because declining sea ice each year is opening up two new shorter shipping routes and revealing trillions of dollars worth of resources from oil to rare earth metals necessary for high tech weapon production. These new maritime trade routes will cut roughly 9,000 kilometers off a one-way trip between Europe and Asia instead of having to go through the Suez Canal. That’s 40% shorter. “Are we there yet?” “Yes Xi Jingping we already got there yesterday”
