Over the Circle

On 11-15 September, the Russian military will be engaging in military exercises on a scale not seen since the ‘Zapad-81’ (Запад-81) war games conducted by the then-Soviet Army and the Warsaw Pact in 1981. The manoeuvres will take place in Siberia and the Russian Far East (RFE), with China and Mongolia also providing troops and support. The… Continue reading The Long Game? Russia Prepares for Siberian Military Exercises →

Among the growing number of non-Arctic states which have recently begun to better define and expand their circumpolar policies, Japan has not had the same international visibility as compared with China and Western Europe. Tokyo had sought to address that omission during the Arctic Circle conference in Reykjavík in October 2015 with the announcement, during… Continue reading Japan and the Arctic: Challenges at Sea →

The question of whether the Arctic region, often referred to as ‘High North, low tension’ in both government and research circles, is beginning to lose its long-held status as a military-free zone, has resurfaced over the past few weeks in the wake of a new report by the Government of the United Kingdom on British defence… Continue reading Militarisation in the Arctic: Views from the United Kingdom →

[Editor's note: The original version of this article appeared in the now-defunct Arctic Journal in April 2016. The Chair of the Arctic Council passed from the United States to Finland in 2017.] As Washington has settled into its role as Chair of the Arctic Council last year, several US states have also begun to take… Continue reading Flashback: Nebraska and the Arctic – As the Crane Flies… →

In the first of an occasional short video series, Semicircle, the editor of Over the Circle, Marc Lanteigne, gives a short presentation on the basics of politics and governance in Antarctica. This talk includes which countries have claimed lands on the continent, (and other states which are starting to increase their presence there), and the… Continue reading Antarctica Politics 101: A Semicircle Video →