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Re:The Arctic as it is known today is almost certainly gone by int_19h on Saturday April 29, 2017 @03:31AM (#14225476)
Russia is similarly underpopulated given its area, but it doesn't prevent it from effectively controlling access to Siberia and Far East, even though those are also similar large swaths of unpopulated land.
Re:The Arctic as it is known today is almost certainly gone by jacquesm on Saturday April 29, 2017 @06:02AM (#14225824)
Sure, infrastructure spending in those regions is at an all time high. Roughly 0. /s

Really, Russia is except for some large population centers pretty much bankrupt and it isn't that those parts of the world are so much better controlled it is a combination of them being so much less attractive combined with the fact that what money Russia had to spend on infrastructure it for the most part decided to spend on weapons instead. So they get to keep all of it but at the same time make their population so impoverished that once their natural gas and oil run out the whole thing will collapse even further.

I expect that by that time China will mop up the remains of the East of Russia without too much in terms of resistance because Russia simply won't be able to hold on to it.

Re:The Arctic as it is known today is almost certainly gone by arjie on Saturday April 29, 2017 @04:10AM (#14225574)
The West does not have the appetite for the sort of quality of life Russians must lead to allow this as evinced by the differences in the healthcare budget and military spending as a percent of GDP between Canada and Russia.