White dots in the snow are the Alpine troops of the 3rd Regiment and 4th Ranger, which advance by simulating an assault on an enemy station in the Arctic environment. The battle of the white fox exercise in mid -March seems authentic with the repetition gusts of the 35th Vipera company. The tiators chosen with a special IR coverage sheet, which makes them invisible to drones, futurist snowmobiles for the Alpine paratroopers, tracked BV 206 suitable to advance in the snow, in the mountain scenario of Prato Piazza, two thousand meters above sea level, in Val Pusteria, South Tyrol. Not to mention the high technology: the robot dog, which acts as an explorer and can transport ammunition, drones of all genres to identify the enemy and hit it with suicide bubble attacks, the tactical bubble created by the specialists of the 9th rhombus cyber safety regiment, to disturb the attacks of the opponent’s unparalleled aircraft. And also a 105mm Oto Oto Oto Melara, who shoots blank cannon, as the same artillery pieces are really delivered to the Ukrainians on the Donbass front. The difference is that the Alpine troops maneuver less than 5 ° C, in Ukraine in winter it is fought at least 18 ° C and in the Arctic the same Italian military body operated at least 32 ° C.
“The Arctic is the theater of the return on the global scenario of power policy ” says Isabella Rauti, Undersecretary of Defense, who witnessed the white fox exercise and wanted a forum of experts on the far north. “A challenge with the West on the one hand, China and Russia on the other, with India is already very involved in this scenario, is already in place,” he underlines. “Europe and Italy cannot remain behind or be cut off from the game of the future”. The Arctic extends for 30 million square meters, a sixth of the earth’s surface, and is strategic for the immense “treasure” of its subsoil. A chest with oil and gas reserves that are worth 35 thousand billion dollars, 40 percent of the world -known reserves. Not to mention rare earth and critical minerals, precious stones and uranium deposits starting with Greenland. Not only that: between 2030 and 2040 the dissolution of the ice will allow the opening of new maritime routes which will decrease 40 percent and navigation times by cutting the transport of goods from Shanghai to Rotterdam by 6,400 kilometers by 6,400 kilometers.
The race to the “new frontier” is a strategic objective of superpowers, which also aim for the militarization of the Arctic. Thule’s American outpost in Greenland, renamed Pituffik’s spatial base, is opposed to the large Russian base of the “Arctic Clover”, 14 thousand square meters inaugurated by Vladimir Putin in 2017. Moscow is the majority territorial shareholder among the ice. White war It is the title of the book published by Neri Pozza di Marzio Mian, who warns: «A new continent opens. This is the century of the Arctic, but there is a risk of an epochal geopolitical clash ». On February 18, surprisingly, Kirill Dmitriyev, who manages the most important Russian investment fund, revealed that during the negotiations in Saudi Arabia, among the Americans and Putin’s envoys, there was also “common projects in the Arctic”. It is no coincidence that Vladimir Proskuryakov, a high official of the Russian Foreign Ministry, specialized in the far north, also participated in the meetings. The goal of the US President is “provoking a fracture between Moscow and Beijing” by recovering ground and investments lost among the ice.
In 2012, the American oil giant, Exxonmobil, He had closed an agreement with the Russian Russian state company to invest 500 million dollars in the oil exploration of the Arctic and the Black Sea. The American people retired in 2018 due to the western sanctions for the annexation of Crimea by Moscow. And the empty spaces were occupied by the Chinese, who invested 20 billion dollars in Arctic Russia. A bank close to the popular Chinese liberation army financed the strengthening of the great port of Sabetta, in the Yamal peninsula. Other investments concern energy projects, such as the pipeline that starts from the first arctic liquefied gas system that is always found in Yamal. Chinese state enterprises have replaced the western, with a 20 percent share, also in the Arctic LNG 2 project and collaborate on the technology for the paintings.
“The Chinese are hungry for natural liquid gases and for Putin the Arctic is an ATM» observes Mian. “Both Beijing and Washington, however, do not recognize the Russian jurisdiction on the north-east transition”. China has autonomized “state close to the Arctic”, even if it is positioned at 1,400 kilometers away. The goal is to become a great polar power by 2030, when the dissolution of the ice will open new routes. The project is the Polar Silk Road from Dalian, a city overlooking the Yellow Sea in Rotterdam. A Chinese strategic document reiterates “the right to navigate, fly over, to perform scientific research, prepare submarine and oil communication cables in the Arctic Ocean”. The ships Eduard Toll and Vladimir Rusanov, with 172 thousand tons of gases each, surfed for the first time without a breach from the aforementioned Russian port of Sabetta to the Chinese one of Rondg. The journey lasted 19 days compared to the 35 of the normal route through the Suez channel.
Beijing opened the Arctic base “Yellow River”officially of a scientific nature, in the Quargo Archipelago, halfway between Norway and the North Pole. And he launched the breeds, “dragons of the snow”, Xuelong 1 and 2, which are nothing compared to the 43 of Russia, including seven with nuclear propulsion and the three Americans. However, President Donald Trump, however settled, announced his intention to launch 40 new Rompigias. The Arctic doctrine of the United States denounces “the Chinese military threat” and the “fake scientific bases in the region”.
In his book, Mian wonders: “Will he be a new white war?”. Anton Vasiliev, a former Russian ambassador to Iceland, claims that “the new world order is decided beyond the polar club”. The US ran to the allocation when, in 2023, a fleet of Russian and Chinese military ships materialized for exercises in international waters, in the Bering Strait, one step away from Alaska. “For international trade, the opening of the Arctic routes will undoubtedly bring profound changes in Mediterranean commercial dynamics, threatening its centrality” underlines Undersecretary Rauti. “The question to be asked in time is what the reflections on Italy will be which, through the ports of Gioia Tauro, Genoa and Trieste, represents a crucial junction for commercial traffic both for Europe and globally, with important economic repercussions on our country”. Another crucial clash is Greenland. Trump wants to buy it from Denmark, but China has been penetrating the largest island in the world for some time, with only 57 thousand inhabitants, where the independence parties won the elections on 11 March. A report by the American geological agency estimates that the subsoil of the Arctic island contains 13 percent of the world oil resources and 30 percent of gas. In addition to precious stones such as rubies and diamonds, but also critical minerals and rare lands, far more important than Donbass. The dissolution of the ice will bring to light deposits, still to be explored, worth 300-400 billion dollars. Greenland is rich in uranium, but its extraction remains a taboo for the inuit population.
China is an important economic partner of the island: Only fish exports, such as shrimp, have reached a value of over 350 million dollars. The mining deposit of the Tanbreez project, the largest rare earths of Greenland, fundamental for electric cars and missile control systems, throat to companies connected to Beijing. In the end, the Critical Metal in New York won it, but the Chinese returned to the office, in the first months of the year, on other deposits. “The United States fear that the Popular Republic can control access to essential minerals in Greenland” confirms Heino Klink, deputy defense secretary in the first Trump administration. “This polar territory is considered strategic for the defense of the USA, fundamental for the early alert of a missile attack”. Rauti stresses that for the White House «it is national security. Trump’s geopolitical “posture” must be read in an anti -Chinese key for the commercial, military and extractive interests of Beijing in the Arctic “. The big ice match is just at the beginning.
