In the wake of Moscow's aggression in Ukraine, many of Russia's neighbors in the Arctic are feeling antsy. Yet some observers' attempts to blast Moscow's recent claim to nearly 1.2 million square km of the Arctic as an aggressive "land grab," evidence of another Obama administration foreign policy failure, or the creation of a next "front" in a New Cold War don't ring true.
This is less about President Barack Obama and more about Russian President Vladimir Putin and his efforts to consolidate power at home. Russian living standards are falling and the state budget is shrinking — due in part to the global isolation Moscow faces from its Ukraine policies. So, the Kremlin is increasingly resorting to theatrics and trying to "stick it to the West" in any way it can in an attempt to divert public attention from growing social and economic problems.
It is unlikely Russia will really succeed in this expansive territorial claim. Russia is just one of several Arctic states claiming territory — including the natural resources — through the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. This convention allows littoral nations to establish an exclusive economic zone more than 200 nautical miles off their coast if they prove this area lies over a natural extension of that country's continental shelf. Denmark, for example, submitted a claim to the U.N. last December; Canada is expected to do so soon.