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    Thursday, August 2, 2007

    The race for the Arctic


    So Russia, already the world's biggest country, is planning to annex most of the Arctic as well.

    A Russian expedition headed by the Rossiya nuclear icebreaker reached the North Pole yesterday. The next step, we're told, is to send a pair of mini-submarines to the seabed to plant a Russian flag there. That could happen as early as today.

    It's the latest and boldest move to support a decades-old Russian claim to much of the Arctic and the rich stores of oil and natural gas believed to lie under the seabed there. The claim is based on a Russian conclusion that an underwater shelf known as the Lomonsov Ridge is in fact an extension of Russia's continental land mass.

    Each of the five countries that border the Arctic - Canada, Russia, the U.S. (via Alaska), Norway and Denmark (via Greenland) - has a 200-mile zone of control that stretches out from their northernmost tip of land. It's a formula that leaves most of the Arctic as international waters, under no country's sovereignty.

    The Russian argument, however, is that the Lomonsov Ridge, which runs right under the currently international section of the Arctic, is as Russian as St. Petersburg or Murmansk, meaning that its 200-mile zone-of control now includes much of the previously unclaimed parts of the Artic.

    If we needed any more proof that Vladimir Putin's Kremlin is expansionist, here it is. But on a more serious note, does the claim make any sense?

    Here's what Sergey Priamikov, the international co-operation director at the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in St Petersburg, told The Guardian:

    "Frankly I think it's a little bit strange," he said. "Canada could make exactly the same claim. The Canadians could say that the Lomonosov ridge is part of the Canadian shelf, which means Russia should in fact belong to Canada, together with the whole of Eurasia."

    In fact, Canada is making the same claim - at least as far as the Lomonsov Ridge and the resources beneath it - and Prime Minister Stephen Harper is scheduled to visit the Arctic next week.

    But might likely makes right in this case. While Russia has the technical capability to sail to the Arctic and plant a flag beneath it, Canada simply does not. There are only five submarines in the world that can descend to the Arctic seabed. Russia has two of them, Canada has none.

    That said, I'm hearing Canada may yet trump the Russians by asserting its sovereignty over all of Eurasia.

    Frankly, you should all start getting used to the taste of maple syrup on everything.

    See what the future looks like here, at one of my favourite websites, The Canadian World Domination General Headquarters.

    3 comments:

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    Anonymous said...

    Everybody in the West are so nervous about this expedition. All the 5 countries you've mentioned in your post (including Canada) are doing the same trying to put the claim for the Arctic shelf through the specially created UN Commission. Last year Canada and Denmark had a joint scientific expedition to the Lomonosov Ridge zone (type LORITA-1 in Google to find out more). There was no such a hysteria in Russia over the expedition. Now the Russians have a scientific expedition and all the parties are blaiming us of our "imperialistic ambitions". Why? Mark. could you explain? Canadians and Russians both are trying to prove that Lomonosov Ridge belongs to them. So why Russia is expansionist and Canada is not?

    Small note. In March 2007 there was a huge Russian delegation participating in the Canada-Russia business summit in Ottawa. Among other delegates there was Director General of the Department in Russian Ministry of Natural Resoursec responcible for Arctic shelf claim. He met his Canadian counterparts and he's made a proposal to join scientific efforts. But NO ONE IN CANADA EVER mentioned this fact in the media. Russians are trying to cooperate. But it looks like you are not interested ... It's more profitable for you to put a blind eye on the Russian proposal and to speculate on the Russian "expansionist ambitions". Why?

    Anonymous said...

    There's a pretty damn simple law of ownership of land under the sea. It's not "expansionist" to claim what you own - it might be "capitalist", but it's certainly not expansionist to claim property rights which are yours as a matter of law.

    Of course, one of the five countries which surround the artic hasn't ratified the law in question. The US contintues to assume the high-and-mighty position it seems to adopt with respect to every international law.

    Despite that all the other countries seem to be cooperating - particularly Russia, Canada and Denmark. What gives with the petty comments in this blog entry?

    The artic, even in the greed oriented world of today, remains an excellent illustration of international cooperation; it demonstrates combined scientific enterprise operating within an agreed legal framework.