The United Nations emblem uses a projection map which is centered on the North Pole. This projection was chosen in 1945 when the UN was founded and the Arctic was strategically irrelevant. Today it has become the world’s most contested zone. The center of the UN’s map is precisely the terrain that every major power is now scrambling for.
The Russian narrative is that a coming Pole Shift will thaw parts of Siberia and the Arctic coastline, of which Russia controls approximately 53%. This Northern Sea Route, the NSR, saves 15 days of travel compared to the Suez Canal route. Russia has already invested over $35 billion dollars developing this area for a future Arctic civilization.
The narrative in the United States, which has a limited Arctic footprint compared to Russia, has been more desperate. Its story began as man-made “global warming,” now simplified to “climate change.” The U.S. is hurrying to meet a 2030 deadline, and is looking to acquire Canada and Greenland which would give it the ability to dominate the Northwest Passage, the alternative Arctic trade route to Russia’s NSR.
The European Union has expanded NATO to include Arctic states, Sweden and Finland. In January 2025 the EU established the European Polar Coordination Office (EPCO) in Sweden’s Arctic region.
China’s Arctic engagement can be found in their “Polar Silk Road,” an extension of the Belt and Road Initiative into polar waters. China has declared itself a “near-Arctic state,” and has been investing in Russia’s Arctic projects in exchange for access. In 2025, it has completed a record number of container voyages through Russia’s NSR, and designates the Arctic as a “strategic new frontier.”
We are living through the most consequential reorganization of world power since 1945 and the geological advantage for all nations is clearly centered in the Arctic region. The new multi-polar world order is forming and with it, a new financial system is being built. A new world order in which energy, food, and metals become the new reserve assets. Each of the major players is constructing financial systems designed to function independently as well as internationally.
In the USA there is Hedera’s digital Hash-Graph, which is governed by institutions including Google, IBM, Boeing, LG, and FedEx. Hedera is not a replacement for the dollar; it is a faster, more programmable upgrade of the US Dollar system, that works along with Stablecoins such as USDC.
In China there is CIPS (Cross-Border Interbank Payment System), which was launched in 2015 as a SWIFT alternative. But unlike SWIFT which only handles messaging, CIPS handles actual clearing and settlement. There is also the Digital Yuan, which has already reached 2.25 billion wallets, more than China’s entire population. And there is mBridge, China’s most ambitious project, a multi-CBDC platform developed with Hong Kong, Thailand, and the UAE allowing direct settlement between digital currencies.
In Russia there is the Digital Ruble and the Mir card payment system which has issued nearly half a billion cards and processes two-thirds of all domestic transactions. SPFS, System for Transfer of Financial Messages, is Russia’s SWIFT alternative and is now connected to 557 financial institutions in 20 countries.
There are four emerging Blocs in this multi-polar world order, the American Bloc which is looking to include all of North America, Latin America, and Greenland. The Middle East is being fought for right now. The Russian Bloc is looking to include much of its former Soviet states as well as parts of Africa and the Balkans. The Chinese Bloc is looking to include South and Southeast Asia, as well as parts of Africa. And the European Bloc is looking to include the core EU and its surrounding Periphery.
What appears to be a series of unrelated events is more likely the controlled demolition of the unipolar world order, and the birth pangs of the new multi-polar world order. And through a pipeline of central banks and private think-tank institutions, all roads lead to the Bank for International Settlements in Basel Switzerland.