Obama's strategy in the Arctic is based on wishful thinking

[mota bhai 2,675]

Last May the Obama administration released the nation's first National Strategy for the Arctic Region.

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The document commits Washington to exercise stewardship over the region, conserving its resources, protecting the environment, and conducting scientific research. And it calls for international cooperation through forums such as the Arctic Council and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

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It's not a strategy in the traditional sense, though. It makes little mention of the potential for international competition in the Arctic basin. It seemingly assumes away the prospect of interaction between competitors determined to get their way. Clausewitz, of course, depicts strategy as a collision of living forces, as a duel on a grand scale, or as two wrestlers constantly striving to throw each other.

Assuming the ocean will remain tranquil also deprives the strategy of a focal point. Whether strategy demands an adversary is a long-running debate in my field. The drift of opinion seems to be: yes.

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Washington, then, should refuse to let the non-military challenges lurking in the Arctic theater obscure the likelihood of competition driven by the Thucydidean motives of fear, honor, and interest. Maybe the powers fronting on the polar sea can resolve their conflicts of interest amicably, factoring in the interests of stakeholders to the south. Maybe a navigable Arctic will remain free of the elemental passions that have impelled human actions throughout history. But let's not succumb to wishful thinking.

http://thediplomat.com/the-naval-diplomat/2013/07/12/america-needs-an-enemy-in-the-arctic/

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Slow day at work today?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Casual Fridays.

[RGinWA 816]

When is the Obama reptilian agenda thread coming?