Canada & Russia Re-Start Cold War
Artic Front is Stage for Latest Russian Confrontation
Fresh off its row with England over the Alexander Litvinenko poisoning case, Russia gives a cold snub & tries redrawing Polar Maps. Canada & Denmark quickly strike back
Whose North Pole is it?
Barbara Rhodes, Chairperson Polar Flight Research Forum said in her article, no one owns it. The North Pole actually is located in the ocean beyond everyone’s territorial waters. “The closest land areas to the North Pole, the northern coast of Ellesmere Island [Canada] and northernmost Greenland [Denmark] are both roughly 450 statute miles away….”
Yet Rhodes’ argument is not being abided by the nations involved. The UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf will make the final determination but has yet to rule.
Russia’s Claim
All complainants disagree based upon what landmass connects the Lomonosov Ridge. An underwater ridge that stretches from the New Siberian Islands (Russia) to Ellesmere Island (Canada) is the disputed stretch of undersea terrain. Russia argues that the ridge is connected to the Eurasian shelf because of “similar” features attained in Russia proper.
Regardless of claims and the UN Commission, Russia has sent an expedition to the region and on Thursday August 2nd, 2007, planted a Russian Flag on the sea floor. "The Arctic is Russian," explorer, Artur Chilingarov said earlier. "We must prove the North Pole is an extension of the Russian coastal shelf."
Canada’s Claim
Canada makes similar claims as Russia but suggests that the Lomonosov Ridge is connected to the Canadian and Greenland mass. "It is no exaggeration to say that the need to assert our sovereignty and protect our territorial integrity in the North on our terms has never been more urgent," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on July 25th.
Canada upped the ante in response to Russia’s Flag planting expedition by adding eight new ice-breakers to its fleet, building a new deep-water port, reopening a closed air force base and starting a “cold weather” army training facility; all in the North. “Canada's new government understands that the first principle of Arctic sovereignty is use it or lose it," Mr. Harper said on Friday August 10th 2007. "Today's announcements tell the world that Canada has real, growing, long-term presence in the Arctic."
Denmark’s Claim
"On Sunday August 12th 2007, Denmark is sending a month-long polar expedition to study the same underwater ridge to see if it is connected to Greenland, a Danish territory. The Danish team plans to collect data to map the seabed under the ice," according to an August 10 BBC News report.
In an interview on Thursday August 9th, Denmark's Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Helge Sander said "preliminary investigations done so far are very promising" and the Lomonosov Ridge…“is a geological extension of the northern coast of Greenland….There are things suggesting that Denmark could be given the North Pole.”
Poul Kristensen, told Can West News that "it's no secret that Denmark"…has interests in the Arctic and "of course, potentially, we can make claims."
The Prize - And the Winner is?
The new gold rush, black gold; oil, gas and precious minerals are the prize. Randy Boswell, said in the same Can West News Service article on Friday, August 10, 2007 “…Canada, Russia, the U.S., Denmark and Norway remain on competitive terms when it comes to staking claims in an area that is…thought to contain 25% of the planet's untapped petroleum reserves.”
And while entering the race late, US politicians are urging protection of America’s Arctic interests. "Unless the United States ratifies the treaty, Moscow will be able to press its claims without an American at the table," Republican Senator Richard Lugar said in May 2007.
So as the nations struggle for position on the map; Russia, flexing her new found economic strength, presses on as in her glory days of the Cold War. Only this time, for those scientists and researchers in the Artic, it is truly a Cold War.
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