Description
Lecture on the book The Arctic was long a very distant projection surface: eternal ice, polar night, expeditions, myth. Today, it is the focus of a new geopolitical reality. Where the ice melts, trade routes, resource dreams, military interests, and old imperial fantasies open up. And suddenly, it's no longer just about climate but about power. Robert Habeck has traveled to the Arctic and now comes to the Harbour Front Literature Festival in Hamburg with "Arctic Meltdown. The Re-measurement of the World." Robert Habeck talks about this journey to the far north and at the same time about the future of the international order, because the Arctic is warming dramatically faster than the global average: what once seemed to be the border of civilization is becoming a zone of access. Who controls the sea routes? Who owns the resources? Who protects the people living there? And what remains of a rule-based world order when great powers start to see land, sea, and ice as prey again? Habeck also talks about the history of the Arctic and the colonial exploitation of Greenland by Denmark. He looks at the people in the north, their present, their vulnerability, their self-assertion. Above all, he analyzes the interests that intersect today in the Arctic: the American claim to Greenland, Russia's return to the "Red Arctic," China's grip on the "Polar Silk Road." From the seemingly distant north, a stage is thus created where it will be decided whether the world of the 21st century is organized according to rules, treaties, and mutual recognition — or by pressure, access, and strength. That Robert Habeck is writing this book makes the evening especially. He is not only one of the most well-known German politicians of today, Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action from 2021 to 2025. He is also an author, essayist, storyteller, someone who has always understood politics as a language and thinking task. After his departure from the federal government, he works at the Danish Institute for International Studies in Copenhagen — close to the political space where the Greenland question, Denmark's interests, Europe's, and the USA's interests are intertwined anew.
Highlights
- Lecture by Robert Habeck on the geopolitical reality of the Arctic
- Discussion of trade routes and resource interests
- Part of the Harbour Front Literature Festival in Hamburg
General Information
The lecture "Arctic Meltdown - The Re-measurement of the World" takes place at the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg. Robert Habeck shares his experiences and insights from his journey to the Arctic and sheds light on the current geopolitical challenges and interests in this region.
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October 2026
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