International and Minnesota Report

As the Biden Administration is focused on the Russian build-up surrounding Ukraine, we wonder as the attention is fixated on this region, what is happening elsewhere around the globe. In the case of Vladmir Putin, are his designs on control of the Artic region in abeyance? Is he only providing a distraction for China, while they prepare to take-over Hong Kong, or Taiwan?

A view of the globe through the Council of Foreign Relations, with the bias of Impact on US Interests, identifies the Ukrainian region as only Significant and not Critical. Under the Critical label are, North Korea, the East China Sea, the South China Sea Afghanistan and Iran. There are a number of Significant areas identified in other areas, but there isn’t any attention being paid to the Artic.

Some concern is growing of the Russian Naval plan to hold exercises 240 miles off the southwestern coast of Ireland in the Emerald Isle’s Exclusive Economic Zone. Speculation is the Russians seek to cut the fiberoptic cable that ties the United Kingdom to North America, which is a significant source of Interconnectivity between the two. The Irish Civilian Fishing Fleet is intending to scuttle the Russian exercizes by deploying their netting and providing obstructions to the