The U.S. needs icebreakers, and not the social kind. Literal icebreakers to help control the Arctic. This isn’t a fun sea exploration project. It is a mission to compete with Russia and China. Kristi Noem, the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, announced a defense-and-industrial cooperation pact with Canada and Finland called the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort (ICE) Pact. The three nations will collaborate on building 11 new icebreaker ships over the coming years to bolster Arctic defense and sovereignty. Right now the U.S. only has one. Meanwhile, Russia and China have been running new commercial and military routes across the Arctic, opening a northern pathway that functions like China’s modern Silk Road. This route bypasses the Suez and Panama Canals entirely and can shorten delivery times by months. Redacted reported this in April of 2023 and predicted that the U.S. would get in on this game and now they are! The post The ICE Pact: Washington Wakes Up to the Arctic Power Struggle appeared first on Redacted.