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Podcast: Polar Geopolitics - Arctic and Antarctic analysis
Episode: Antarctic science or polar oil exploration? Prof. Klaus Dodds on Russia’s grey zone activities in the Weddell Sea
Description: Reports of Russia’s discovery of huge oil reserves in Antarctic waters has caused concern in some quarters over (frozen) territorial claims and the future of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, which permanently bans mining in and around the continent. Prof. Klaus Dodds, whose recent testimony for a UK parliamentary inquiry sparked a media firestorm over Russia’s activities and intentions in Antarctica, joins the podcast to discuss what he sees as classic grey zone tactics where, in this case, scientific research could possibly serve as a pretense for the pursuit of economic and geopolitical inte...