On paper, Antarctica is a demilitarized continent, a symbol of peace and science. But for 25 years, deathbed accounts from military personnel and defense contractors have painted a very different picture. They don’t speak of penguins or ice cores. They describe massive military logistics operations conducted in shadow, industrial drills aimed at coordinates on no scientific map, and absolute silence from the top. If this isn’t about science, then what is this clandestine arms race for? What are the world’s superpowers fighting over beneath that ice: a game-changing resource, or a strategic prize they would violate any treaty to possess?
