Frozen conflict? A special episode in the Arctic

<p>In Norway’s north, a geopolitical quirk may yet transform into a geopolitical conflict. We visit Svalbard, an Arctic archipelago that contains a Russian company town complete with a <a href="https://www.economist.com/interactive/europe/2025/08/11/a-corner-of-nato-where-lenin-presides?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">bust of Lenin</a>. Ahead of the high-stakes, high-north <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/08/13/what-putin-wants-from-trump-in-alaska?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">summit in Alaska</a>, our correspondents lay out why—perhaps even more than the Baltic states—the Arctic might be <a href="https://www.economist.com/interactive/europe/2025/08/12/the-looming-military-threat-in-the-arctic?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the flashpoint</a> for Russia’s next bout of expansionism.</p><br><p><em>Get a world of insights by </em><a href="https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>subscribing to Economist Podcasts+</em></a><em>. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our </em><a href="https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>FAQs page</em></a><em> or watch </em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gczo71bg1uY" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>our video</em></a><em> explaining how to link your account.</em></p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>