After Greenland, people on the arctic island Svalbard wary of great powersAFP, LONGYEARBYEN, SvalbardThere are no outward signs of jitters, at least not yet: People in Svalbard are going about their daily lives as normal despite speculation that this Norwegian archipelago could be the next arctic territory coveted by the US or Russia. “Today Greenland, tomorrow Svalbard?” a question Longyearbyen Mayor Terje Aunevik said he has been asked many times. A polar bear watches a bearded seal in Spitzbergen in the Svalbard archipelago on April 9 last year. Photo: AFP“The arctic is no longer a quiet corner on the map,” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy told a conference in Tromso in northern Norway early this month. “It is the front line of the global power competition.”Longyearbyen, the main town on Svalbard, is an unusual place.

Source: Taipei Times February 19, 2026 17:22 UTC