James Bamford: Battle for the Ends of the Earth, Gebunden

Klappentext

From the acclaimed author of such news-making bestsellers as The Puzzle Palace and Body of Secrets, a riveting account of stealth moves by superpowers in the polar regions--bold gambits that are intended to establish control of multi-trillion-dollar resource finds.

The Arctic has never been neutral. Since before the Cold War, the world's superpowers have vied for ownership, and the stakes are high: the Arctic holds 13% of the world's undiscovered oil and 30% of the world's hidden gas reserves, and has become a critical frontier for rare earth elements. The war for the region has been largely hidden, but the battle for control of the North Pole and the vast, rapidly melting Arctic Ocean surrounding it is quickly gaining intensity. And Russia has essentially taken over.

Meanwhile, dozens of nations are swarming over Antarctica, entranced by the colossal resource deposits beginning to be discovered under the melting ice. Currently, there are more than eighty "research" stations on the continent maintained by over thirty countries, including Ukraine. Russia alone has seven. And no one is naïve enough to think that, under the veil of conducting "pure science," military positioning and espionage is not taking place. Even Iran has announced its intention to build a military base there.

Greenland, by contrast, seems less remote, if only because of the shock waves that have been pulsing through Europe as the US jousts for at least partial sovereignty there. This book will reveal shocking details regarding what both sides are prepared to do to gain control of, or hold onto, that frigid island. A potentially rich source of critical rare earth minerals, Greenland may hold the key either to the West's polar power surge or complete marginalization.

Written by award-winning national security expert James Bamford, the first to interview American whistleblower Edward Snowden in Moscow and famed for his unmasking of what really goes on at the NSA in his landmark book The Puzzle Palace, Battle for the Ends of the Earth portrays, in stunning detail, the next phase of the world superpowers' vying for dominance, replete with secret ice islands, exotic submersibles, clandestine listening stations, and hidden nuclear weapons*.* Battle for the Ends of the Earth is the harrowing story of an epic battle that will increasingly heat up as the world's most remote, ice-choked regions rapidly thaw.