In what could be seen as evidence the Russian military has a sense of humour, it has announced it is about to begin construction of its new nuclear-missile-carrying submarine, the Saint Nicolas. If based in Murmansk, as is the norm, it will spend some time at the North Pole, although I doubt anyone will want to receive the presents this “St. Nick” can deliver.

The Americans have just announced that the USS Texas – a brand-new, Virginia-class attack submarine – has surfaced at the North Pole. Until now, conventional wisdom held that this class of submarine was not designed for use in Arctic waters. With the arrival of the Texas at the North Pole, however, it seems that either “conventional wisdom” was wrong or the Americans have taken steps to modify the...