Dec 2025: Peter Schweitzer Interviewed on Austrian Public Radio Ö1
The Austrian public broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) featured InfraNorth principal investigator Peter Schweitzer in an interview on its Ö1 weekend feuilleton “Diagonal” on December 6, 2025, which focused on the politics of infrastructure. Schweitzer appeared in a segment titled “A Silk Road Across the Arctic” (in German: Seidenstrasse über die Arktis), interviewed by Erich Klein on the ideas surrounding an “Arctic Silk Road.” International political and economic actors envision trade and infrastructure corridors across the circumpolar North (including the Northern Sea Route, the Northwest Passage, and potential transpolar routes), reflecting longstanding geopolitical and international economic interests that have received renewed attention as the region becomes increasingly accessible due to climate change.
The interview also touched on a proposal for a subsea rail tunnel under the Bering Strait, recently suggested by a Russian envoy and often framed in the media as the Trump-Putin tunnel, which would create a fixed link between Russia and North America. Schweitzer placed the proposal within a long history of ideas on Arctic shipping routes, highlighting the interplay between infrastructural fantasies, geopolitical ambitions, and the practical realities faced by Indigenous and local populations. Produced by Ines Mitterer, the program examined public responsibility, political decision-making, and the symbolic roles of major infrastructure projects.
The radio program is available online (in German) here.
