5 ms·

I wonder if melting ice is making this easier to do or more economically feasible than it has been in the past?

grecy 5y ago
Yes, Absolutely. A handful of years ago sailing through the North West Passage (around Alaska then across above Canada) was unheard of. Now it's quite routine, lots of people do it for fun every summer.
tupac_speedrap 5y ago
Probably, Russia are also building the "Polar Express" subsea cable from Murmansk to Vladivostok around Siberia so I guess is it viable now.
tiernano 5y ago
I vaguely remember reading that there were shipping routes that would be half the time and distance if the ice was melted... And some ships run during the summer months... Mostly from Russia to Europe... Iirc...
- dragonelite 5y ago
  The route will become more popular, it's not a route the US can in anyway block. If i'm not mistaken Russia can now ship 8~10 months of the year via the artic route, they want/are planning to create more nuclear ice breakers i'm sure the Chinese are more then willing to make sure the Artic route stays open the whole year.
- zerovar 5y ago
  Wendover Productions had a video on this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msjuRoZ0Vu8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msjuRoZ0Vu8
  - tiernano 5y ago
    thats probably where i heard about it.
asimpletune 5y ago
Also - totally unrealistic - but what if the ice freezed again, making the cables impermeable to spying and ushering in some kind of golden era of diplomacy and trust. I remember reading that in times when technology favored defense there were widespread moments of peace throughout Europe, like in the Middle Ages, so this could be something like that.
- throw0101a 5y ago
  > but what if the ice freezed again, making the cables impermeable to spying and ushering in some kind of golden era of diplomacy and trust. It would make no difference: subsea cables are accessed via submarine, which don't care about ice (or no ice). * https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/07/the-creepy-long-standing-practice-of-undersea-cable-tapping/277855/ https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/07/th... * https://www.lawfareblog.com/evaluating-russian-threat-undersea-cables https://www.lawfareblog.com/evaluating-russian-threat-unders... * https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/we-now-have-details-uss-jimmy-carter-spy-submarines-secret-mission-129272 https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/we-now-have-details-u... * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Jimmy_Carter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Jimmy_Carter
- nradov 5y ago
  Spying by tapping into unencrypted traffic on undersea cables was done briefly during the Cold War. Now governments encrypt all their traffic so you won't get anything useful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ivy_Bells?wprov=sfla1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ivy_Bells?wprov=sfla...
  - wyck 5y ago
    There still a lot of tapping going on, there are modern subs build specifically for this.

Yes, Absolutely. A handful of years ago sailing through the North West Passage (around Alaska then across above Canada) was unheard of. Now it's quite routine, lots of people do it for fun every summer.

tupac_speedrap 5y ago

Probably, Russia are also building the "Polar Express" subsea cable from Murmansk to Vladivostok around Siberia so I guess is it viable now.

tiernano 5y ago

I vaguely remember reading that there were shipping routes that would be half the time and distance if the ice was melted... And some ships run during the summer months... Mostly from Russia to Europe... Iirc...

dragonelite 5y ago
The route will become more popular, it's not a route the US can in anyway block. If i'm not mistaken Russia can now ship 8~10 months of the year via the artic route, they want/are planning to create more nuclear ice breakers i'm sure the Chinese are more then willing to make sure the Artic route stays open the whole year.
zerovar 5y ago
Wendover Productions had a video on this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msjuRoZ0Vu8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msjuRoZ0Vu8
- tiernano 5y ago
  thats probably where i heard about it.

asimpletune 5y ago

Also - totally unrealistic - but what if the ice freezed again, making the cables impermeable to spying and ushering in some kind of golden era of diplomacy and trust. I remember reading that in times when technology favored defense there were widespread moments of peace throughout Europe, like in the Middle Ages, so this could be something like that.

throw0101a 5y ago
> but what if the ice freezed again, making the cables impermeable to spying and ushering in some kind of golden era of diplomacy and trust. It would make no difference: subsea cables are accessed via submarine, which don't care about ice (or no ice). * https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/07/the-creepy-long-standing-practice-of-undersea-cable-tapping/277855/ https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/07/th... * https://www.lawfareblog.com/evaluating-russian-threat-undersea-cables https://www.lawfareblog.com/evaluating-russian-threat-unders... * https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/we-now-have-details-uss-jimmy-carter-spy-submarines-secret-mission-129272 https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/we-now-have-details-u... * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Jimmy_Carter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Jimmy_Carter
nradov 5y ago
Spying by tapping into unencrypted traffic on undersea cables was done briefly during the Cold War. Now governments encrypt all their traffic so you won't get anything useful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ivy_Bells?wprov=sfla1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ivy_Bells?wprov=sfla...
- wyck 5y ago
  There still a lot of tapping going on, there are modern subs build specifically for this.