In the Finnish city of Rovaniemi, where the Arctic Circle itself serves as a threshold, European leaders gathered in September 2026 to reckon with a region no longer defined by scientific cooperation but by military buildup, melting ice, and fractured alliances. Russia rearms its northern frontier, China looks northward with growing intent, and the United States under Trump pursues a course that strains the very partnerships meant to uphold a rules-based Arctic order. What was once a zone of shared survival knowledge has become, in the span of a few years, one of the most consequential arenas