Newsletter: A New Dawn for the High North
For a few hours, the absurd theatre known as 'America' was replaced by a sense of normalcy. (Photo: The Biden Inaugural Committee)
Dear reader. There is a new dawn for the Arctic. An ice-free Northern Sea Route changes shipping as we know it, students are returning to school and the vaccination process har begun. And USA has ha new, shiny leader.
This week, we have the joy of serving you an excellent long-read article by our man in the USA about how climate changes change shipping through the Northern Sea Route. A great read!
On Friday 15 January, Store Norske signed an agreement with AF Decom AS regarding demolishing of buildings in the Svea industrial camp in Svalbard. The agreement is worth NOK 70 million, options included.
Hope and good will
So to that which has been on everybody’s lips; a new, shining leader of the free world. The new US President wasted no time when taking immediate action to protect Alaska’s vulnerable nature.
Arne O. Holm
Our Editor-in-Chief Arne O. Holm also feels a long desired sense of relief:
“Joe Biden Brought Back Hope When Things Were Looking Gloomy”, knowing fully well that everyday matters eventually will catch up with the new administration too.
The incoming U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin says the USA and Russia have a long history of cooperation about and in the Arctic and hopes for that to continue.
All bright and good will everywhere, in other words.
Do not miss the interview with Russian Ambassador-at-Large for the Arctic Nikolay Korchunov, who wants to resume the annual meetings of the chiefs of the armed forces in the Arctic states.
No longer the end of the world
We are finally able to write about Corona again without it representing the end of the world as we know it. Vaccines are distributed at breakneck pace and after ten long months of home schooling, Alaska is finally re-opening its schools.
Two new projects, funded by the US Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are commencing the building of competence in Greenland’s mining sector.
We finish off this week with a bit of game and fun:
Next week, a new role-playing game about the Arctic will be launched. The game is to be an education tool for high school pupils and students to provide them with an insight into the complexity and challenges in the Arctic.
All this, and much more, you can find at High North News.
Thank you for staying with us – and feel free to tips us about what you want to read!
Trine Jonassen,
News Editor, High North News