Comments on I claim this land...

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I also know that Canada is building more ice breakers, Gome...
To patrol the low Arctic, and intends to make its naval presence much more obvious. (Good thing you guys now have a conservative government – the Socialists would never approve of something like this.)

posted by arGee on September 1, 2007 at 6:11 PM | link to this | reply

arGee - it is an issue that Canada is taking steps to address
We're building army bases at either end of the northwest passage and increasing overall presence in the north to solidify our perceived sovereignty over the region. I think that any country in our position would do the same thing. Currently there are numerous native land claims (and settlements) that reach as far north as the 70th parralell, we'd be damned fools to deal with these land claim issues, pay the prices in both dollars and land being demanded, then allow another nation to claim the territory. In the upcoming session of Canadian parliament, it is expected that a resolution will be passed defining Canadian territory in the north. I've seen suggestions that Canada will define its northernmost territorial boundary at either the 85th or right at the 90th.  

posted by gomedome on September 1, 2007 at 11:24 AM | link to this | reply

I caught your irony, Gome...

Re: arGee - my comment was tongue in cheek - (sort of)   

What bothers Anatoly is that his scientific and exploring expedition was usurped by politicians for geopolitical reasons that had nothing to do with long-standing exploring traditions. Their controlling lever was the Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker that he needed to get to the North Pole with the MIRs.

As a Russian, Anatoly probably accepts Russia's territorial claim (or at least gravitates that way), but I think everyone in the arena knows that Canada has the strongest claim. If oil and gas are eventually discovered there, these claims will be more meaningful, but two and a half miles below five feet thick moving ice is not an ideal environment to set up an oil well.

In a more immediate sense, this may have more to do about Russia's waining world image than anything else. I must be difficult to look in the geopolitical mirror and say, "Once upon a time we were a great power."

posted by arGee on August 31, 2007 at 6:39 AM | link to this | reply

arGee - my comment was tongue in cheek - (sort of)
There is no doubt that it is a great achievement but if you are wondering what could prompt me to leave such a comment refer to your blog title: "I claim this land..." Was the man claiming land or was he simply fulfilling a longstanding tradition of planting a flag to commemorate reaching the North Pole? We both know that it was the latter but times are not what they used to be. That region of the north is now being contested simply because it has been determined that there are resources there. There are 4 main players in the dispute; the USA, Russia, Denmark and Canada. Where I am probably incapable of looking at the dispute objectively because I was taught growing up that Canada extended to the North Pole and Russia started on the other side (could my grade 4 geography teacher possibly have had it all wrong?), from what I understand; Canada has the strongest case if the dispute ever reaches an international court decision.

posted by gomedome on August 30, 2007 at 8:12 AM | link to this | reply

Re: arGee -there's another flag we are going to have to pull out and admittedly

What you need to understand here, Gome, is that Anatoly's realistic commercial project was usurped by the Russian Duma, and turned into this international political charade. Anatoly expressed personal embarrassment to me in an email following the event.

On a wider plain, however, this really is a significant event, one to celebrate as a great human achievement o this century.

posted by arGee on August 28, 2007 at 9:43 AM | link to this | reply

arGee -there's another flag we are going to have to pull out and admittedly

that ones gonna be a bitch.

I don't know where these other countries get off planting flags in our territory. They act as if Canada does not own it outright, the USA and even the Danes have laid claim to the region as well. If they insist on their encroachment, we're just going to have to send them the bills we have paid over the years to maintain this territory. We can start by handing over all inuit land claims to them. That'll fix em, just wait until they realize that every 1,000 square miles of Artic region has one Eskimo on it that claims it's his land. Then wait until they see the asking price.   

posted by gomedome on August 27, 2007 at 1:27 PM | link to this | reply

Good work, ArGee

posted by Straightforward on August 27, 2007 at 10:36 AM | link to this | reply

You're welcome

posted by arGee on August 27, 2007 at 9:18 AM | link to this | reply

Thanks for sharing !

posted by afzal50 on August 26, 2007 at 9:09 PM | link to this | reply