Svalbard Residents Live Normally Amid Arctic Power Speculation
"Today Greenland, tomorrow Svalbard?" Terje Aunevik, mayor of Longyearbyen, Svalbard’s main town, says he has been repeatedly asked this question.
US President Donald Trump's expansionist policies have drawn attention to the Arctic, where strategic and economic interests are intensifying.
"The Arctic is no longer a quiet corner on the map," European Union diplomat Kaja Kallas said at a conference in Tromso in early February. "It is the front line of the global power competition."
Longyearbyen itself is distinctive—a former mining town transformed into a hub for tourism and academia, located in the fastest-warming part of the world. With a population of 2,500, the town lies roughly halfway between continental Norway and the North Pole. Winters bring four months of darkness, while summers deliver continuous daylight. Residents venturing outside the town must carry rifles to protect themselves from polar bears.
Strategically, Svalbard’s importance is rising. Some analysts suggest that Trump’s Arctic ambitions could extend beyond Greenland to the archipelago, while Russia may seek to match this interest. Beyond potential mineral wealth under its seabed, Svalbard—twice the size of Belgium—controls the northern reaches of the so-called "Bear Gap."
This maritime zone, where the Barents Sea meets the Norwegian Sea, is a critical passage for Russia’s Northern Fleet submarines based on the Kola Peninsula as they enter the deeper waters of the Atlantic.
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