THE DEMOCRAT POTUS BHO WHO LACKS VISION FOR THE FUTURE OF THESE USA SINCE THE LIBERAL MIND IS FOCUS ON THE PRESENT LEFTIST AGENDA BEFORE THE LAMEDUCK YEAR IS OVER–AS SECEDING THE ARCTIC TO THE RUSSIANS AND CHINESE INTERESTS WHERE THE US INTERESTS IS ALWAYS ONE STEP BEHIND FROM THESE DEMOCRATS IN POWER–AS THE RUSSIANS BUILD MILITARY ARCTIC BASES TO STAKE CLAIM AS TOO THE CHINESE BUILDS OVER REEFS TO LAND GRAB

In 2013, US President Barack Obama said the Arctic was "peaceful, stable, and free of conflict" as he laid out a national strategy for the region.

But just two years later, the rapid retreat of ocean ice cover, a newly emboldened Russia and the covetous gaze of nations keen to exploit new shipping lanes and vast mineral wealth are putting the Arctic's longstanding stability under pressure.

"The Arctic is a region that is getting more and more important," US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Friday as he visited troops at Fort Wainwright in the Alaskan city of Fairbanks, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) south of the Arctic Circle.

"It'll be important to the United States, it'll be important to other countries. It'll be important that we keep the peace and a rules-based kind of order."

Alaska and the Arctic are of key strategic importance for the United States.

Missile defense systems are here and planes can overfly the North Pole to quickly reach destinations across the Northern Hemisphere.

But budget constraints mean the Pentagon is weighing plans to slash the presence of some 2,600 specialized cold-weather troops at a base in Anchorage.

Meanwhile, Russia launched elaborate Arctic war games this summer involving thousands of troops as it tries to bolster claims to the region's vast hydrocarbon and mineral wealth.

And when Obama visited Alaska the following month, five Chinese naval vessels were spotted in the Bering Sea between Russia and Alaska. It was believed to be the first time Chinese military ships were seen in the area.

Critics of the Obama administration say the United States is failing to grasp an urgent need to boost US military might in the Arctic region.

http://news.yahoo.com/arctic-attracting-military-scrutiny-063241586.html