I was recently sent an email alerting me to a conference at the University of Maine that appears to be about dragging us into another one of the oil-i-garchy’s latest chaos zones. Here is a bit from the invite:

“The University of Maine School of Policy and International Affairs and the Maine Army National Guard will co-host a conference May 20 to 21 to explore challenges and emerging opportunities in the Arctic. The free conference, ‘Leadership in the High North: A Political, Military, Economic and Environmental Symposium of the Arctic Opening,’ will be held at the Maine Army National Guard Regional Training Institute in Bangor. Speakers will address global, national and state issues and implications related to diminished sea ice in the Arctic, including the changing environment, trade, geopolitics and policy.”

The words “emerging opportunities” jumped right out at me. The Arctic region is loaded with oil and natural gas and with extreme melting of the ice the oil corporations are itching to get at it. But look at a map to see which country has the largest land border with the Arctic… it is Russia.

The Pentagon has created the “US Navy Arctic Roadmap: 2014- 2030”. The plan includes such gems as the Navy needing ways to distribute fuel in the [Arctic] region to air and surface platforms. Fuel allocation needs to be staffed and protected which means bases will be built. The current US-NATO movement of major offensive forces along the Russian border, having used the Ukraine crisis as a pretext, helps the military more effective “control” the Russian bear in the event of future conflict over Arctic resource extraction.

Late last March the Navy took New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, Sen. Angus King, I-ME, and others for a submarine ride below the Arctic ice. Friedman wrote:

“‘In our lifetime, what was [in effect] land and prohibitive to navigate or explore, is becoming an ocean, and we’d better understand it,’ noted Admiral Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations. ‘We need to be sure that our sensors, weapons and people are proficient in this part of the world,’ so that we can ‘own the undersea domain and get anywhere there.’”

Our Sen. King here in Maine sent around an email called “Impressions from the Arctic”. He reported that “previously inaccessible” gas and oil reserves were now going to create “new opportunities”. King concluded, “I am convinced we need to increase our capacity in the region…as we work on our military priorities for the coming years.”

King’s constituents build destroyers, armed with so-called “missile defense” (MD) systems that are key elements in Pentagon “Prompt Global Strike” planning. Just imagine parking a bunch more of these ships just off Russia’s Arctic coastline.

I’m sad that I couldn’t get a ticket to get into the Arctic event in Bangor. Funny that a public institution like the University of Maine would limit participation at such an important event. But then again I’m not surprised at all.

BRUCE GAGNON is a resident of Bath.