Washington (UPI) Jun 8, 2009 – People around the world understandably anxiously watch the Middle East for fear that new wars may break out in the region for control of its huge oil resources — still the richest, most high quality and most easily accessible on the planet. Almost nobody pays any attention to the emergence of a similar situation in the Arctic Ocean: Yet international tensions are slowly but remorselessly rising there too, and for the same reason: increasing demand and competition for natural resources, especially oil and gas.