The struggle for control of the Arctic is accelerating - and riskier than ever

Tensions are growing at the top of the world. US President Donald Trump wants Greenland, Russia is modernising its Arctic military bases, Chinese icebreakers are opening new routes and spies are being unmasked. But as the battle for one of the world’s coldest places heats up, an increasingly fragile security balance may be breaking down, leading to an escalating arms race.

President Trump has repeatedly stated his desire to control Greenland. “We need Greenland for national security purposes,” he has said. “I've been told that for a long time.”

The question of why a territory with only 56,000 or so people matters comes down to geography.In the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union, nuclear weapons were the ultimate instruments of war, holding the balance of terror. And the fastest route for weapons to reach their targets was over the North Pole. At the dawn of the Cold War, the US established an important base in the remote North of Greenland at a place called Thule - recently renamed Pituffik Space Base, which I visited in 2008.

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