The Arctic Is Heating Up. So Is the Competition to Control It
The ice is melting, and the stakes are rising as the world’s global powers are racing to assert their claim. Is a new Cold War unfolding in the Arctic?
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David Goldman / AP
About the Episode
The Arctic’s heating up—literally and politically. Melting ice is turning a once-remote region into a stage for global power. Experts Kenneth Rosen and Anna Wieslander unpack how Russia, China, NATO, and the United States are all racing for influence, and why what happens up there could shape the rest of the world.
About the Speakers
Journalist, Lipman Fellow, Columbia University
Kenneth Rosen travels the world to write in-depth stories about the impact of major geopolitical issues and conflict on individual lives. He is a 2025 Ira A. Lipman Fellow at Columbia University. Rosen received the 2022 Kurt Schork Freelance Award for his reporting from Ukraine, Syria, and Malta, which the judges called “courageous multifaceted investigative work.”
Director, Northern Europe, Atlantic Council
Dr. Anna Wieslander serves as director for Northern Europe at the Atlantic Council and head of the Atlantic Council office in Stockholm. She is also chair of the Institute for Security and Development Policy, a Stockholm-based think tank with a focus on Central Asia and Asia. She is a lifetime member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences and the Swedish Society for International Affairs.
President & Chief Executive Officer, Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Dr. Leslie Vinjamuri joined the Council in 2025 as the president and chief executive officer, after previously serving as director of the US and the Americas program at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, known as Chatham House, in London. She brings nearly 30 years of experience working at the intersection of international affairs, research, policy, and public engagement.