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- Icebreakers are key – Russia’s fleet gives them de facto dominance
1AC Arctic WarScenario 1 is Russian Expansionism:The US has failed to prevent Russian Arctic expansion – they require more robust icebreaking fleetFrancis 14 David Francis, MA from Georgetown University, BA from University of Chicago, He has reported from all over the world on a number of topics, from transatlantic relations, to border security, to finance, and has spoken about his work at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, and the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh, 2/2/14, (“The race for Arctic oil: Russia vs. U.S.”, http://theweek.com/article/index/256908/the-race-for-arctic-oil-russia-vs-us)//AW The United States and Russia are at odds over a host of issues, from Ukraine to Syria to Edward Snowden, prompting talks of a new Cold War. Their next confrontation could take place on the coldest place on earth. Last week, a Russian military official told Russian media that the Kremlin was forming a new strategic military command to protect its interests in the Arctic. It's part of a broader push from Moscow to establish military superiority at the top of the world. "The new command will comprise the Northern Fleet, Arctic warfare brigades, air force and air defense units as well as additional administrative structures," a source in Russia's General Staff told RIA Novosti last Monday, The formation of the new command follows a December 2013 order from Russian President Vladimir Putin to ramp up Russia's military presence in the Arctic. Putin said Russia was returning to the Arctic and "intensifying the development of this promising region" and that Russia needs to "have all the levers for the protection of its security and national interests." These interests are primarily energy related. As Arctic ice has melted, companies from Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia, and the United States — the five countries that have a border with the Arctic — have been rushing to secure rights to drill for oil and natural gas in places that are now accessible. Hundreds of billions of dollars are at stake. Experts estimate that the Arctic holds some 30 percent of the world's natural gas supply, and 13 percent of the world's oil. That's why companies like Royal Dutch Shell, the U.S.-based Arctic Oil & Gas Corp. and Russia's Gazprom have all been making exploration claims on land in the Arctic. Countries are making new claims in the Arctic as well. Each of the five nations with Arctic borders is allotted 200 nautical miles of land from their most northern coast. Putin's military expansion was in direct response to a claim of additional land by Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird, who last year asked scientists to craft a submission to the United Nations arguing that the North Pole belongs to Canada. The Canadian claim also asserts that it owns the Lomonosov Ridge, an underwater mountain range located between Ellesmere Island, Canada's most northern border, and Russia's east Siberian coast. In 2007, Russian scientists planted a flag on the ridge to claim it as Russian territory. Russia created the Northern Fleet-Unified Strategic Command to protect oil and gas fields on the Arctic shelf. Unfortunately for American companies, the Pentagon has fallen behind, having only two of the icebreakers necessary to navigate Arctic waters. According to the Congressional Research Service, Russia has 25, with six powered by nuclear energy. Part of the problem is costs; a new icebreaker costs $800 million, and the Coast Guard says it doesn't need new ones. But Alaska Democratic Sen. Mark Begich said that the Obama administration should make the Arctic more of a priority. "It's like they've never heard of it," Begich said in a recent interview with Fox News. "With the Obama administration we've had to push back pretty hard to convince them and show them why they need to invest in not only icebreakers, but forward operating bases for the Arctic." New strategy The Arctic hasn't been strategically important to the Pentagon since the Cold War, when missile were tested there and U.S. and Soviet submarines patrolled its waters. But DOD stopped paying attention to the region when the Iron Curtain fell. As Arctic ice receded and the region became strategically important, DOD shifted its attention back north. Last November, it released a new Arctic strategy outlining American interests in the region. The new strategy calls for the Pentagon to take actions to ensure that American troops could repel an attack against the homeland from a foe based in the Arctic. It's short on specifics, but calls for increased training to prepare soldiers for fights in Arctic conditions and for collaboration with other federal agencies to determine what ice patterns would look like in the future. The document is careful to point out that the United States was willing to work with allies. However, it makes clear that the Pentagon believes the Arctic is becoming contested territory, and the DOD would act to protect American interests. Icebreakers are key – Russia’s fleet gives them de facto dominanceCohen and Szaszdi 08 Aril Cohen - PhD, Visiting Fellow in Russian and Eurasian Studies and International Energy Policy in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign and National Security Policy and Lajos F. Szaszdi - Ph.D, World Politics from The Catholic University of America, 10/30/08, (“The New Cold War: Reviving the U.S. Presence in the Arctic”, http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2008/10/the-new-cold-war-reviving-the-us-presence-in-the-arctic)//AW After its invasion of Georgia, Russia has clearly hardened its international posture and is increasingly relying on power, not international law, to settle its claims. Moscow has also intensified its anti-American policies and rhetoric and is likely to challenge U.S. interests whenever and wherever it can, including in the High North. Russia takes its role as an Arctic power seriously. In 2001, Russia submitted to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea a formal claim for an area of 1.2 million square kilometers (460,000 square miles) that runs from the undersea Lomonosov Ridge and Mendeleev Ridge to the North Pole. This is roughly the combined area of Germany, France, and Italy.[32] The U.N. commission did not accept the claim and requested "additional data and information."[33] Russia responded by sending a scientific mission of a nuclear-powered icebreaker and two mini-submarines to the area. During this meticulously organized media event, the mission planted the Russian flag on the ocean's floor at the Lomonosov Ridge after collecting soil samples that supposedly prove that the ridge is part of the Eurasian landmass. During the mission, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Duma Artur Chilingarov, the veteran Soviet explorer heading the scientific expedition, declared, "The Arctic is ours and we should demonstrate our presence."[34] Such statements run counter to the spirit and potential of international cooperation and seem inappropriate for a scientific mission. The U.S. has objected to these claims and stated that they have "major flaws." Professor Timo Koivurova of the University of Lapland in Finland stated that "oceanic ridges cannot be claimed as part of the state's continental shelf."[35] Russia intends to resubmit its claim by 2009.[36] Russia is also moving rapidly to establish a physical sea, ground, and air presence in the Arctic. In August 2008, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a law that allows "the government to allocate strategic oil and gas deposits on the continental shelf without auctions." The law restricts participation to companies with five years' experience in a region's continental shelf and in which the government holds at least a 50 percent share, effectively allowing only state-controlled Gazprom and Rosneft to participate.[37] President Medvedev also featured the Arctic prominently in the new Russian Foreign Policy Concept, which states: "In accordance with the international law, Russia intends to establish the boundaries of its continental shelf, thus expanding opportunities for exploration and exploitation of its mineral resources."[38] During 2008, Russian icebreakers have constantly patrolled in the Arctic. Russia has 18 operational icebreakers, the largest flotilla of icebreakers in the world.[39] Seven are nuclear, including the 50 Years of Victory, the largest icebreaker in the world.[40] Russia is planning to build new nuclear-powered icebreakers starting in 2015. Experts estimate that Russia will need to build six to 10 nuclear icebreakers over the next 20 years to maintain and expand its current level of operations.[41] Russia's presence in the Arctic will allow the Kremlin to take de facto possession of the underwater territories currently in dispute. In addition to icebreakers, Russia is constructing an Arctic oil rig in the northern shipbuilding center of Severodvinsk, which will be completed by 2010. The rig will be the first of its kind, capable of operating in temperatures as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius (minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit) and withstand the impact of ice packs. The new rig was commissioned by the state-controlled Gazprom and demonstrates that Russia is serious about oil exploration in the Arctic. Directory: files files -> Answer True False 2 points Question 2 files -> Integer programming and game theory files -> 4 Integer Programming files -> Bpa vehicle Window Repair Scenario #1 task: Procure vehicle window relacement. 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