Suspicious developments in and around Svalbard

15 July 2008, 1751 EDT

Although I failed to make the connection, thanks to D we now know of the sinister connection between the Svalbard and Zombine menaces. Given accumulating evidence that climate change will increase Zombie activity, this is a truly frightening development and may help to explain the broader relationship between the Panzerbjørn and the Zombies.

But recent weeks have also seen a flurry of suspicious activity around Svalbard, including:

• An increase in Russian naval activity.

The Russsian Navy on Monday announced that it has again deployed naval vessels in the Arctic, including the waters around the Svalbard archipelago.

The “Severomorsk” is already in the area, and it will later this week be joined by the missile cruiser “Marshal Ustinov”, according to a press release by the Russian Navy.

It also states that this is in line with its plans to step up its presence in the Arctic.

• At the same time, Norway has decided to restrict travel to Svalbard on dubious “environmental grounds.”

• A supposed series of experiments on oil spill containment.

The full-scale trials which took place to the east of Hopen in May have been described as highly successful. They included a series of tests of oil skimmers and fire-resistant oil-booms, the burning of floating oil and a monitoring experiment that was controlled via satellite.

This is clearly a cover for something: but what?

• The meeting of a triumvirate of Scandanavian radical monarchists in Svalbard. According to Nina Berglund of Aftenposten, “they all claim they want to learn more about climate change [emph. added]”. Not long after, a “VIP delegation” traveled to Svalbard. Among its members: Jimmy Carter and George Soros. I think we have our smoking gun.

But will the world wake up before it is too late?

Dan Nexon

Daniel H. Nexon is a Professor at Georgetown University, with a joint appointment in the Department of Government and the School of Foreign Service. His academic work focuses on international-relations theory, power politics, empires and hegemony, and international order. He has also written on the relationship between popular culture and world politics.

He has held fellowships at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation and at the Ohio State University's Mershon Center for International Studies. During 2009-2010 he worked in the U.S. Department of Defense as a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow. He was the lead editor of International Studies Quarterly from 2014-2018.

He is the author of The Struggle for Power in Early Modern Europe: Religious Conflict, Dynastic Empires, and International Change (Princeton University Press, 2009), which won the International Security Studies Section (ISSS) Best Book Award for 2010, and co-author of Exit from Hegemony: The Unraveling of the American Global Order (Oxford University Press, 2020). His articles have appeared in a lot of places. He is the founder of the The Duck of Minerva, and also blogs at Lawyers, Guns and Money.