Great Polar Politics: The Race To Exploit Antarctica Is Heating Up the Icy Continent
NEED TO KNOW
Great Polar Politics: The Race To Exploit Antarctica Is Heating Up the Icy Continent
ANTARCTICA
The “White Continent,” as Antarctica is known, is a beautiful, fragile place, home to 44 million penguins and a few thousand researchers, yet owned by no one.
While a lot of attention has been paid in recent years to the geopolitical and economic significance of the Arctic, interest in Antarctica is now also heating up.
“Intrigue, greed and hostility burn in the Antarctic,” wrote the Economist recently, describing “a new scramble for the Antarctic, intensified by the re-emergence of geopolitical rivalry between great powers, climate change, and a race to exploit its resources.”
Since 1961, the region has been governed by the Antarctic Treaty, which guaranteed its use for scientific research and other peaceful purposes and froze the claims of the United Kingdom, Argentina, Australia, Norway, France, New Zealand, and Chile to the continent’s territory.
But like all treaties, it’s only as strong as the signatories allow it to be, and it is now being undermined, say observers.
“Treaties are fickle things: the political conditions that bring them into being rarely endure,” wrote British Royal Navy icebreaker captain Tom Sharpe, who has worked on the continent, in the Telegraph. “The Antarctic Treaty, is starting to creak. The world is changing …”
He says the treaty has lasted so long because it has been so difficult to violate it, given the continent’s remoteness and harsh conditions. “(However), as soon as Antarctica’s vast resources become economically worth the risk of exploiting, this would change,” he added. “We may be seeing the start of this now.”
In March, for example, China and Russia announced separate but coordinated plans to strengthen and expand their presence in Antarctica in “an active new phase of close collaboration,” wrote the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
One example of that cooperation already was on display late last year when China and Russia teamed up at a meeting of the 26-nation Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in Tasmania to block the creation of new Antarctic marine parks and loosen krill fishing restrictions, undermining a major international convention designed to protect the region from overexploitation and environmental degradation, the Guardian reported.
Krill is a key food source for Antarctica’s wildlife including penguins, seals, and whales, and fishing restrictions have been seen as important to ease pressure on these creatures already struggling from global warming and other threats.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government’s most recent five-year plan included an expansion of international fishing – with a particular focus on krill, Lyn Goldsworthy of the University of Tasmania told the newspaper: “They have a directive to expand that krill fishery (in Antarctica).”
Analysts say that both China and Russia are interested in the region, noted World Politics Review, especially for future mineral exploitation as global warming and advances in technology make it more feasible. Antarctica is thought to hold vast deposits of oil, gas, coal, iron, copper, and other minerals. However, mining is banned until 2048. Last year, the US, with the largest presence on the continent, placed sanctions on Russia’s research vessel, the Akademik Alexander Karpinsky, which US officials say had been surveying for oil and gas in the region.
Meanwhile, establishing military bases in Antarctica is banned by treaty. To get around this, analysts say China uses its military and its equipment, but for research purposes. For example, China recently unveiled its fifth base, ostensibly for scientific purposes, but with dual-use civil-military satellite monitoring facilities
Now, analysts say that the treaty, which they believe is frequently violated, must be updated or the situation on the continent will become a free-for-all. But getting a new agreement governing the White Continent won’t be easy, they add, with China and Russia likely to block most initiatives.
“The Antarctic Treaty is under considerable stress and strain,” Klaus Dodds of Royal Holloway College, University of London told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “(And it’s) probably entering the worst period it’s ever experienced.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Former South Korean Acting Presidents Banned From Travel Amid Insurrection Probe
SOUTH KOREA
South Korean authorities hit two former acting presidents with travel bans as part of an investigation into their involvement in an alleged insurrection connected with former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s attempt to impose martial law last year, Al Jazeera reported.
Police imposed the travel bans on former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and former Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok this month. Both are suspects in the insurrection probe and were questioned Monday by a special police unit, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday.
After Yoon’s impeachment in December, which was upheld by the Constitutional Court in April, Han and Choi’s roles during the former president’s bid to impose martial law have come under scrutiny, raising questions about whether they resisted the insurrection as they claimed, wrote Reuters.
Yoon – in office for nearly three years – declared martial law in December 2024, but it was reversed by lawmakers a few hours later. The move plunged South Korea into an unprecedented constitutional crisis that then saw Han and Choi serving as acting presidents.
South Korea will hold a snap election on June 3 to elect a new president. Han attempted to run as the candidate for the ruling conservative People Power Party, but was forced to withdraw due to internal disputes, leading to rival Kim Moon-soo’s nomination.
Countries Jump To Accept the US’ Threatened International Students
WORLD
Japan said it would welcome international students affected by the Trump administration’s decision to bar Harvard University from enrolling foreign nationals, part of a broader effort to support displaced students and enhance its academic standing amid the turmoil in US higher education, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.
On Tuesday, Education Minister Toshiko Abe announced that her ministry had asked public and private universities to consider admitting foreign students whose enrollment at Harvard had been disrupted or whose academic status is now unclear.
The decision follows a US directive blocking Harvard from enrolling international students in the 2025-26 academic year, citing the university’s alleged failure to address antisemitism, campus violence and purported ties with the Chinese Communist Party.
A US federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order against the ban, but legal proceedings are ongoing.
Students from more than 140 countries are affected by the ban, including high-profile individuals such as the future queen of Belgium, Princess Elisabeth, Politico added.
Abe said Japan’s foreign and education ministries were coordinating to gather information and explore support measures. The University of Tokyo confirmed that it is assessing how it might temporarily accommodate affected students.
Academics praised the move as both a diplomatic and academic opportunity, saying the decision is likely to appeal to many international students.
Tomoko Owan, an associate professor at the University of the Ryukyus, told the SCMP that welcoming some of the world’s brightest students “will raise academic standards and show Japan’s capacity to compete globally.”
Japan’s offer comes as other countries have stepped forward to try to lure international students in the US, while others are attempting to entice academics and researchers to leave the US.
Hong Kong’s University of Science and Technology announced “unconditional offers” and streamlined admission for affected Harvard students, according to the Independent.
The city’s Education Secretary Christine Choi also urged the city-state’s academic institutions to provide “facilitation measures” and announced relaxed student quotas to accommodate incoming international students.
China, whose nationals make up the largest segment of international students at Harvard, warned that the US was “politicizing education.” Beijing said Sino-American educational exchanges were “mutually beneficial” and vowed to “safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese students and scholars overseas.”
Meanwhile, the European Union this month launched the “Choose Europe” program, a $570-million initiative to attract scholars worried by funding cuts and academic freedoms, NBC News reported.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen emphasized “free and open research,” in what observers called a veiled rebuke of US policy.
Senegal Indicts Fifth Minister in Ongoing Corruption Crackdown
SENEGAL
Senegal’s anti-corruption special court on Monday indicted former Minister of Community Development Amadou Mansour Faye on charges of embezzling more than $4.6 million of Covid-19-related public funds, Africanews reported.
Faye, who is the brother-in-law of former president Macky Sall, is the fifth official from the previous administration to be charged by the High Court of Justice, a special organ responsible for trying former government officials for crimes committed while in office.
According to Faye’s lawyer, the court denied the minister bail and ordered his detention.
This case is part of a broader crackdown on corruption by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who was elected last year on promises to promote transparency and accountability.
Last week, the anti-corruption court charged two other former ministers from Sall’s administration for embezzlement and misappropriation related to Covid-19 funds, and two others for taking bribes and “complicity in embezzlement.”
These cases highlight the new government’s focus on fighting corruption at the highest levels of governance.
According to a government spokesman, Senegal intended to summon Sall to court after officials found irregularities in the treasury’s bookkeeping made during his presidency. The former president dismissed the accusations as politically motivated.
DISCOVERIES
A Magna Find
David Carpenter of King’s College London was researching unofficial copies of the Magna Carta when he found a digitized version on the Harvard Law School Library website that was believed to be a copy.
But after examining it, researchers say it is one of seven originals released by King Edward I’s issue of the Magna Carta in 1300 AD that have survived.
“This is a fantastic discovery,” said Carpenter, a history professor, who authenticated the document, in a statement. “Harvard’s Magna Carta deserves celebration, not as some mere copy, stained and faded, but as an original of one of the most significant documents in world constitutional history, a corner stone of freedoms past, present and yet to be won.”
Harvard Law School Library bought the document, known as “HLS MS 172,” in 1946 for $27.50. The auction catalogue described the document as a “copy … made in 1327 … somewhat rubbed and damp-stained.”
The Magna Carta was first issued in 1215 by King John of England to appease barons who were revolting against his rule: Historians say it was a type of peace treaty that declared that even the king is subject to the rule of law.
The charter was then reissued several times after 1215 by future kings, including by Edward I in the 28th year of his reign, in 1300. The text is in Latin, handwritten, likely by a scribe, and mostly in good shape, considering it is about 725 years old.
Carpenter confirmed authenticity by comparing it to other originals and through the use of spectral and ultraviolet imaging.
The dimensions of this Magna Carta, 19.25 in x 18.62 in, correspond to those of the six other known originals. The handwriting, with the large capital ‘E’ in ‘Edwardus’ and the elongated letters in the first line, is also a match.
Researchers say the find is even more remarkable because the Magna Carta is “one of the world’s most valuable documents.”
“Considered a key step in the evolution of human rights against oppressive rulers, Magna Carta has formed the basis of constitutions around the world,” they wrote. “It was influential in the founding of the United States, from the Declaration of Independence to the framing of the US Constitution and the subsequent adoption of the Bill of Rights.”