The United States is far behind Russia when it comes to military dominance in the Arctic

The Arctic Photo credit: Kadir van Lohuizen/NOOR/The Washington Post

The ice melting in the Arctic has reached a record low this year. That means that there are parts of the Arctic Ocean that are now accessible to navigation for the first time. That also means a lot of untapped resources are surfacing like fossil fuels, diamonds and metals, and the U.S. is far behind Russia and China in the race to exploit those resources.