Power play at the top of the world

Reindeer seen en route between the settlements Longyearbyen and Barentsburg, Svalbard. Norway is pushing to more firmly assert its sovereignty over Svalbard and fend off foreign influence in the cluster of islands that is, however, also governed by a unique treaty dating from World War I that allows just about anyone to take up a life there. — Emile Ducke/The New York Times

HIGH up in the Arctic, not far from the North Pole, Svalbard stands alone as a geopolitical unicorn.

The stark cluster of islands belongs to Norway but is governed by a peculiar treaty dating back to World War I. It allows citizens of nearly 50 countries to live and work there, visa-free, in one of the planet’s harshest inhabited places.