Under the Antarctic Treaty, military operations are banned and the environment is protected, maintaining an ideal of international cooperation. Jeffrey McGee, an Antarctic law scholar, emphasizes that the ongoing political turbulence globally is likely to disrupt this paradigm. Some experts express concerns regarding China and Russia's expansion of their scientific bases, speculating on possible non-peaceful intentions behind initiatives like Russian seismic surveys, which the British House of Commons has scrutinized for their potential link to oil exploration.

The stakes are high for Antarctica's role as a unique territory as tensions rise among major global powers, challenging the long-standing principles fostering collaboration on this distant continent.