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Russian North Pole

grant

17:05 / 01.08.07

It took an atomic icebreaker and a pair of submarines, but the Russians have claimed the North Pole.

They've sunk their flag - literally - under the shrinking ice cap in order to claim the massive oil deposits believed to be under the Arctic.

Canada, Greenland, Norway and the U.S. (via Alaska) could also claim the North Pole, but no one has before now because it's simply been too cold to matter. Global warming = possibility of exploitation (to create MORE global warming, funnily enough) = a reason to care.

So. They put a flag on the seabed over the North Pole.

Oil is getting scarcer. What do you think'll happen when the first drill platforms get set up?

What do you think America is going to do about that?

ONLY NICE THINGS

17:13 / 01.08.07

Invade Venezuela?

Ticker

17:14 / 01.08.07

Can we wean off the oil teat now please? Go put up some windmills already!

Dead Megatron

17:38 / 01.08.07

Nobody is invading Venezuela before I do. Nobody!

Saint Keggers

17:57 / 01.08.07

Meh, were planing on waiting seconds after Russia plants their flag, then our elite team will reveal that they have planted a Canadian flag IN RUSSIA! Technically making both the north pole and Russia Canadian. Whats Russian for Hoser?

Closed for Business Time

20:51 / 01.08.07

I don't think this is going to matter much in the end. Not as much as the fact that if Russia is serious about exploiting the NP in good ole fashn'd industrialist style, then everyone else with a vested interest will want to be there as well, meaning we'll have a nice technological clusterfuck of US, CA, NO, DK/GL and RU in of some of the most important marine biotopes in the northern hemisphere on our hands. They'll be drilling and gutting and mining and fishing cause "noone lives there". Amongst other rationales.

Makes me wonder how they ever manage to stay out of Antarctica. Is it just too harsh, economically as well as physically?

Dead Megatron

21:08 / 01.08.07

So far, yes, but that only means they are saving it for last.

Closed for Business Time

10:19 / 02.08.07

Yeah, wouldn't surprise me in the least.

All Acting Regiment

10:44 / 02.08.07

They'll all be fucked before they get the chance, at the rate global warming's going. Is it wrong to want there to be a small apocalypse, which only wipes out silliness like this, and then everything goes back to normal?

What's that D.H. Lawrence line - about a future where there is only ice and snow and bears, and men become great feathered snow-birds ...

grant

16:51 / 02.08.07

Canada starts talking trash:

"This isn't the 15th century. You can't go around the world and just plant flags and say 'We're claiming this territory'," said Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay.

"There is no threat to Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic ... we're not at all concerned about this mission...."

unheimlich manoeuvre

21:24 / 02.08.07

The Guardian. July 11 2007

In that link there's more details about the C$7bn the Canadians are spending on new ships. Lots of countries all over the world are increasing spending on their military.
Venezuela, China to think of two. And USA is busy arming their allies in the Middle East.
A little worrying isn't it.

grant

00:19 / 03.08.07

Now I have an image of Saudi Arabian polar bear-mounted troopers...

Triplets

01:13 / 03.08.07

Gives a new meaning (or, possibly a meaning) to "Polar War".

"This isn't the 15th century. You can't go around the world and just plant flags and say 'We're claiming this territory'," said Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay.

This strikes me as the global-level "Nyaahh! This is off-ground tag!"

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