http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article6859007.ece
Competition for resources in the Arctic Circle could provoke conflict between Russia and Nato, a newly appointed commander at the alliance warned yesterday.
Russia has recently been aggressive in its pursuit of claims to parts of the region and in February sent a submarine to the floor of the sea symbolically to plant a Russian flag. Admiral James Stavridis said that military activity and trade routes would also be potential sources of competition around the polar cap.
Speaking at the Royal United Services Institute in London on Nato’s future direction, Admiral Stavridis, Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, predicted that relations with Russia will dominate thinking at the alliance
Amid concern from Eastern European Nato members over the principle of collective defence, Admiral Stavridis repeatedly stated his commitment to Article 5 of the 1949 treaty agreement, that an attack on one Nato nation is an attack on all. But he also said that Nato should not be regarded as a “world policeman”.
