Why do current remapping of claims to minerals and oil in the Arctic and North Pole eerily remind us of the game board of 'Risk!'? Is the not-so-frozen north the sight of a new Cold War? The remapping of regions of the warming north pole parallels the rise of oil and mineral prospecting, as what was long not a site for easy journey is transformed into terrain to stake claims to national sovereignty in the only remaining parts of the globe where clear lines of territoriality are not already drawn. The remapping of polar claims for possession may in the end provide an obstacle to the extension of four-color mapping over the globe's face, and become something of a new arena to negotiate competing international disputes. Continue reading ![]()
