Even if accidentally found through scientific studies, mineral resources cannot currently be commercially explored or exploited under the 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.

A protocol to the 1959 treaty was signed in 1991. The agreement banned mineral and oil exploration for 50 years and included regulations for the protection of the Antarctic environment.  2041 would be the year the protocol runs out by the math.  With Britain running out of North Sea oil, the agreement will obviously be torn up and thrown away if these oil deposits have any commercial value.

If I were Putin I'd already be making plans to take out any oil infrastructure that was built in Antartica. Nord Stream^* style.

People are incredibly stupid. 

QuoteThe current Russian activity is troubling,"

Klaus Dodds, Professor and Wanker of Geopolitics at the University of London said in a written statement.

How so?  If British drills were ready to get Antarctic oil could, would that be troubling?  And why not?

The great game goes on:

Rivalry between Britain and Russia in Central Asia in the late 19th century caused 'The Great Game' to be used used by Rudyard Kipling in his novel Kim (1901).

British attitudes were influenced by reports of official, semiofficial, and private adventurers enjoying the thrill of clandestine operations beyond the frontiers of India, reports that frequently embellished (or even invented) accounts of Russian machinations and the vacillating loyalties of local chieftains.

Talking shit about Russia in Britain is as common as London fog.  The idea that was then and this is now, with modern Brits being OK with Russia totally ignores human sociology.  Talking shit about others is trans-generational.  Shit-talk becomes part of cultural hegemony as time passes.  Hate directed against group outsiders morphs into inappropriate feelings of patriotism.  Social advancement can result. 

Brits feel like they still have an empire when they talk shit about Putin.  So don't expect them to stop their Great Game anytime soon.  Talking shit about others identifies group membership and engenders elite solidarity.  Group sanctioned hate is a very resilient social feature.  Such hate always gets a lot of votes in an election.

And since England is now in a sense the other California, American attitudes goose-step right along.

* A mile of Nord Stream pipeline carried 1839 cubic meters of gas.  Can we imagine this?  No we can't, so how much is that gas worth?  It turns out to be $650 to $975 at average American natural gas retail prices per mile.  Two pipelines 761 miles long were destroyed.  Taking the average, the gas leaked was worth about 1.2 million dollars.  If you are riding Biden, such a trifling environmental disaster is no big deal.