Arming the Arctic | movie | 2025 | Official Clip - video Dailymotion

How climate change is affecting the geopolitics of the Arctic, and increasing the risk of war. | dG1fazR2Z0tCYjJjR2s

Transcript

00:00A United States Air Force rivet joint is approaching for an in-flight refuel.

00:12It's an old aircraft with a strange name, converted from a Boeing airliner from the 1960s.

00:19But the strange bulges on its fuselage contain the world's latest and most advanced military

00:25surveillance technology. The refueling will allow it to extend its patrol over one of the most

00:34geopolitically tense regions of our planet. Inside, the highly trained crew of 30 are eavesdropping

00:43on hostile activity deep into enemy territory. But they are not over the Black Sea or Ukraine,

00:51nor over the South China Sea or the Middle East. Instead, this refueling is taking place over the

00:58Arctic. 27,000 feet below lies this, an often forgotten part of our world, largely uninhabited,

01:11out of sight, out of mind, until now. Yet unseen and unreported, the world's military powers are

01:22flexing their muscles across this wilderness, building tension and ramping up the geopolitical temperature.

01:302024 saw NATO hold its largest ever military exercise in the Arctic.

01:34With over 20,000 troops from over 13 member nations and hundreds of warplanes and naval forces deployed

01:45across the region. German Army Patriot missile deployments deep into the Arctic Circle.

01:52U.S. Marine Corps Ospreys in the skies over northern Sweden. French warships patrolling in Arctic

01:58fjords. British and American artillery units training in Finland. Norwegian Air Force fighters

02:05on high alert in Iceland. So what's going on? Why are western nations increasing their military

02:14presence in a vast region that is largely uninhabited when there is an actual war further south in Europe?

02:20And why are the Russians and Chinese doing the same? Holding their first joint naval exercise in the

02:29region in 2023? Testing hypersonic cruise missiles and building new military bases? Why are we arming the Arctic?

02:39Something is fueling this new Arctic arms race more powerfully and irreversibly than simple superpower

02:52rivalry or the war in Ukraine. So what is changing? The answer is the climate.

02:59The glaciers of Greenland are collapsing. And each summer more and more of the Arctic ice sheet becomes

03:09open water. But behind the threat to the environment and the wildlife is a more insidious and dangerous

03:15impact that is destabilizing and driving the militarization of the top of the world.

03:20For as the ice melts, vast reserves of valuable natural resources are being exposed.

03:29Oil and gas, seabed minerals, and fish. As the ice retreats, it is also opening up vital new

03:40commercial shipping routes across the top of the world.