Adak, a windswept island off the coast of Alaska, was transformed into a military stronghold during the second world war. During the cold war it became a vital outpost. At its peak thousands of troops and their families lived there. Today barely 30 people remain. Electricity is patchy, grocery stores have closed, and the mail arrives irregularly. But that may be about to change. On The Weekend Intelligence, The Economist’s diplomatic editor Anton La Guardia travels to Adak to ask why the American armed forces are once again eyeing this lonely outpost, and what that says about the country’s uneasy relations with its rivals.
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