Russia's Arctic mission nears North Pole:

[Praxius]

CTV.ca | Russia's Arctic mission nears North Pole

MOSCOW -- An ambitious expedition to bolster Russia's claims to much of the oil and gas wealth of the Arctic Ocean headed to the North Pole on Wednesday, plowing its way through unbroken Arctic ice behind a sturdy Russian icebreaker. An advance party of six researchers flew to the North Pole in a helicopter early Wednesday and spent 11 minutes on the ice scouting the route for the icebreaker Rossiya and the scientific research vessel Akademik Fyodorov, according to the government-owned ITAR-Tass news agency. The Rossiya, which was crunching its way through an unbroken sheet of multiyear ice, was about 45 miles from the pole, ITAR-Tass said. The research ship was close behind. They were expected to reach their destination before noon Wednesday. The voyage, led by noted polar explorer and Russian legislator Artur Chilingarov, is part of the Kremlin's effort to buttress its claims under international agreements to a large portion of the northern polar region. While the Kremlin has stressed the expedition also has scientific aims, it is also intended to help expand both Russia's energy reserves and its global political clout. "There's no question that this particular expedition does have some kind of larger political and economic focus," Rose Gottemoeller, director of the Moscow Carnegie Center, told the Associated Press. At the pole, Russian scientists plan to dive in two mini-submarines beneath the pole to more than 13,200 feet deep, and drop a metal capsule containing the Russian flag on the sea bed. The symbolic gesture, along with geologic data being gathered by expedition scientists, is intended to prop up Moscow's claims to more than 460,000 square miles of the Arctic shelf -- which by some estimates may contain 10 billion tons of oil and gas deposits. The expedition reflects an intense rivalry between Russia, the United States, Canada and other nations whose shores face the northern polar ocean for the Arctic's icebound riches. About 100 scientists aboard the Akademik Fyodorov are looking for evidence that the Lomonosov Ridge -- a 1,240 mile underwater mountain range that crosses the polar region -- is a geologic extension of Russia, and therefore can be claimed by Russia under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. In addition to dropping a titanium tube containing the Russian flag, the subs will collect specimens of Arctic flora and fauna and videotape the dives. The biggest challenge, scientists say, will be for the mini-sub crews to return to their original point of departure and avoid being trapped under a thick ice crust. Denmark hopes to prove that the Lomonosov Ridge is an extension of the Danish territory of Greenland, not Russia. Canada, meanwhile, plans to spend $7 billion to build and operate up to eight Arctic patrol ships in a bid to help protect its sovereignty. The U.S. Congress is considering an $8.7 billion budget reauthorization bill for the U.S. Coast Guard that includes $100 million to operate and maintain the nation's three existing polar icebreakers. The bill also authorizes the Coast Guard to construct two new vessels.

Let the Race Begin!!!

[Milton Bradley]

This could actually be pretty interesting.


I wounder what we might find under where all that ice used to be?

[Praxius]

I wounder what we might find under where all that ice used to be?

Lol.... Canada's buried War Machine (Do not open until Christmas)

But it will be interesting just how important this area is to the other countries, and just how far each will go to stake their claim. We already have countries around the world going to war over lands that are holy, that hold oil, etc.... this place is so far an untapped resource which could become very valuable now that oil supplied are begining to show strain, people are continually looking for shorter routes of travel, etc....

Now whether this all will be delt with diplomatically all the way through, or through force, shall remain to be seen.....

certainly will be interesting.

[Rainbow]

Within 10 years (or so), Russia is going to dominate European oil-and-gas market with appx. share of 75%.
If Rio-de-Janeiro remains politically independent, then Brazil should become one of Russia's next targets to intercept and influence South America, in order to corner U.S. enterprise in that region.
Therefore, U.S. needs to seek out and/or promote political solutions to protect its (vital to U.S.) energy resources around the globe, and establish much closer relationship and/or partnership with Brazil in all fields.
Science and Technology is solution. Otherwise, we are heading for a major conflict, where energy resources dictate all the conditions.

[Praxius]

Indeed Rainbow.... and it's starting most asured

Arctic sovereignty operation Nanook set to launch in Nunavut

Canada's eastern Arctic will be the scene of a simulated environmental spill and counter-drug operation next week as part of the Canadian Forces' latest Arctic sovereignty exercise. Operation Nanook, a $3-million, 10-day sovereignty and security exercise that begins Tuesday, will bring more than 700 army, navy and air force members to Nunavut, along with 30 Canadian Inuit Rangers and members of the RCMP, coast guard and various government departments. Operation Nanook runs until Aug. 17. Brig.-Gen. Chris Whitecross, commander of Joint Task Force North, told CBC News that the military will spend time preparing for various scenarios. For example, it will collaborate with the RCMP on a counter-drug operation on Resolution Island, she said. "Drugs [would be] coming in by boat going into Resolution Island. There's an airfield on Resolution Island, and from there having the drugs put on to an aircraft and come into Iqaluit," Whitecross said Wednesday. "So we're simulating illegal drugs coming into the country from the coast and going into the North." Canadian Forces personnel will also be working with the coast guard on a simulated environmental spill and cleanup effort near the Nunavut hamlet of Kimmirut, Whitecross said. Meanwhile, two Canadian Forces ships and a submarine will practise manoeuvres in Frobisher Bay, Hudson Strait and Davis Strait. A number of aircraft, including CF-18s, Twin Otters and helicopters from several military bases across Canada, will be also by flying across Nunavut as part of Operation Nanook. On land, observation posts will be set up on Resolution Island and other points across the territory. While it is widely expected that Prime Minister Stephen Harper will visit Nunavut during Operation Nanook, to announce a port location and military training site in the territory, Whitecross said she has not received any official word on whether that will happen. Ranger Master Cpl. Mattoo Moonie Michael of Kimmirut is one of about 30 Rangers who will be involved in land exercises during Operation Nanook. He said he hopes this year's operation will encourage more young people to become Canadian Inuit Rangers. "It's better than watching the tube in one spot, you know," he said. "I sometimes [want] the youngers to get involved with Rangers too." Whitecross said she wants to make some improvements from last August's Operation Lancaster, in which military personnel patrolled the waters, skies and land in and around Lancaster Sound near the Northwest Passage. For example, Whitecross said she wants to improve the co-ordination and communication between the different organizations taking part in Operation Nanook this month.

What's interesting about this, is this is a lot of force for an exercise.... which is happening around the same time the Russians are in the Artic..... I see a potiential for something happening between the two....

Now if the US does somethign similar at the same time.... we could have a quagmire.

[Praxius]

Oh crap.... it is starting, lol:



CTV.ca | MacKay dismisses Russia's Arctic claim

Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay is dismissing Russian claims to vast swaths of the resource-rich Arctic, calling their flag-planting tactics "just a show." Russian explorers dived deep below the North Pole in a submersible on Thursday and planted a national flag on the seabed to stake a symbolic claim to the oil and gas wealth beneath the Arctic Ocean. A mechanical arm dropped a rust-proof titanium Russian flag onto the Arctic seabed at a depth of 4,261 metres, Itar-Tass news agency quoted expedition officials as saying. "Look, this isn't the 15th century. You can't go around the world and just plant flags and say 'We're claiming this territory,'" MacKay told CTV's Question Period co-host Jane Taber. The foreign affairs minister asserted that there was no threat to Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic, despite the latest claims by Russia. "Our claims over our Arctic are very well-established," MacKay said in Charlottetown, where the federal Conservative Caucus is meeting this week. While Mackay hasn't been in direct communication with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, he said Ottawa was making regular contact with Russian officials through the embassy. The Rossiya atomic icebreaker plowed a route to the North Pole through a sheet of multi-year ice, paving the path for the Akademik Fedorov research ship to follow, said Sergei Balyasnikov a spokesperson for the Arctic and Antarctic research institute that prepared the expedition. The voyage, which is led by polar explorer and Russian legislator Artur Chilingarov, also has some scientific objectives, including the study of Arctic plants and animals. But the main goal appears to be strengthening its legal claims to the resources believed to lie beneath the Arctic sea floor. The symbolic gesture of dropping the Russian flag onto the seabed, is intended to bolster Moscow's claims to about 1.2 million square kilometres of the Arctic shelf. According to some estimates, it may contain about 9 billion tonnes of oil and gas deposits. Russia's expedition is partly over oil, but it is also symbolic, says Michael Byers, academic director at The Liu Institute for Global Issues. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that 25 per cent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas reserves are on the floor of the Arctic Ocean. But it is also about Russian domestic politics and international politics," Byers told CTV Newsnet. "The Russian government seeks to remind people that Russia is a powerful country. ... This move to put a titanium flag on the floor of the ocean under the North Pole is a pretty impressive technological feat, even if it has no legal consequences." About 100 scientists aboard the Akademik Fedorov are looking for evidence that the Lomonosov Ridge, a 2,000-kilometre-long underwater mountain range that crosses the polar region, is a geologic extension of Russia, and therefore can be claimed by it under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. "What Russia is doing in terms of collecting scientific evidence concerning the character of the seabed is actually part of a process at the United Nations whereby countries can claim continental shelves beyond the 320-kilometre mark," Byers said. Moscow has claimed the polar region since at the least the days of the Bolsheviks. In 2002, Russian officials argued to the United Nations that there was geological data backing their claim that the Arctic seabed and Siberia are linked by one continental shelf. The UN dismissed Moscow's application then, citing lack of evidence, but Russia is expected to try again in 2009. The expedition reflects an intense enmity between Russia, the United States, Canada and other countries -- whose shores face the polar ocean for the Arctic's icebound riches. Last month, Ottawa said it would build up to eight patrol ships designed to operate in the frozen region in a bid to help protect its sovereignty. "I think this is an opportunity for Canada to engage in some pro-active diplomacy and also to make its own contributions to this United Nations process by giving more money, more equipment to Canadian scientists so that they can match the Russian efforts on the Canadian side of the North Pole," said Byers.

It always starts this way, lol....

[Rainbow]

Russia claims, that part of Arctic is an extention of Russia's territory.
I wonder who may claim all the rights to the Apls (as an extention) ? :-)))

As a matter of fact, all the rights to that part of Arctic have been splitted between and/or granted, and accepted/recognized by/to the 5 following states :
- Canada
- Denmark
- Norway
- Russia
- U.S.A.

[johnny125]

interesting...

[Praxius]

UPDATE:



BBC NEWS | Americas | Canada PM asserts Arctic claims

Canada's prime minister has stressed his country's claims to the Arctic region on a trip there, days after Russia laid claim to the North Pole. Correspondents say Stephen Harper's tour has taken on new urgency since Russian sailors dropped a flag on the sea bed below the pole last week. "Canada has taken its sovereignty too lightly for too long," Mr Harper said. "This government has put a big emphasis on reinforcing, on strengthening our sovereignty in the Arctic." Melting polar ice has led to competing claims over access to Arctic resources. But the BBC's Lee Carter, in Toronto, says that not everything about Mr Harper's three-day tour of the Arctic is concerned with Canadian sovereignty. Mr Harper also announced the expansion of one of the most remote national parks in Canada's vast and rugged north. However, our correspondent says that when Mr Harper spoke to reporters it did not take long for the sovereignty issue, and in particular Russia's claims, to come to the fore. "I think the recent activities of the Russians are another indication that there's going to be growing international interest in this region," Mr Harper said, speaking in Yellowknife, some 500km (311 miles) south of the Arctic Circle. Unique expedition Several other countries with territories bordering the Arctic have launched competing claims to the seabed below the North Pole. That area is not currently regarded as part of any single country's territory and is governed instead by complex international agreements. In a unique expedition last week, Russian explorers planted a flag on the seabed 4,200m (14,000ft) below the pole. The move drew derision from Canada, with Foreign Minister Peter MacKay likening it to tactics used in the 15th Century. Canada and the US are also engaged in a dispute over the future of the Northwest Passage, the partially frozen waterway that links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The US says it regards it as an international strait but Mr Harper has vociferously defended the passage as Canadian territory. He has already announced plans to build six naval patrol vessels to secure the route.

[Praxius]

Quote by: Rainbow As a matter of fact, all the rights to that part of Arctic have been splitted between and/or granted, and accepted/recognized by/to the 5 following states : - Canada - Denmark - Norway - Russia - U.S.A.

Not exactly as the above update states:

That area is not currently regarded as part of any single country's territory and is governed instead by complex international agreements.

There are agreements as to who can go where, but nothing official has been actually made on the maps.

[Milton Bradley]

I saw in link about Bush's views on this yesterday, but forgot to link it to this thread.


As I said earlier, this ought to be interesting.

[Rainbow]

Quote by: Praxius There are agreements as to who can go where, but nothing official has been actually made on the maps.

You are correct.
Mutual agreements, precisely.

[Praxius]

And now the Danish are throwing in their two cents..... lot's of tough talk going back and forth it seems:

Denmark's science minister has dismissed moves by Russia and Canada to assert sovereignty over the Arctic, saying flag planting and political visits will not settle territorial claims in the potentially resource-rich region. The scramble for the Arctic heated up two weeks ago when Russia sent two small submarines to plant a tiny flag under the North Pole. Last week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper spent three days in the Canadian Arctic. Denmark sent a team of scientists to the Arctic ice pack Sunday to seek evidence that the Lomonosov Ridge, a 1,995-kilometre underwater mountain range, is attached to Greenland, a Danish territory. The Danish expedition, which had been planned for years, might, under a UN treaty, allow the Danes to stake a claim that could stretch all the way to the North Pole, although Canada and Russia also claim the ridge. The U.S. and Norway also have claims in the vast Arctic region, where a U.S. study suggests as much as 25 per cent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas could be hidden. Lowering flag 'simply a summer joke' "No matter how many flags you plant or how many prime ministers you send, that doesn't become a valid parameter in the process," said Helge Sander, Denmark's minister of science, technology and innovation. Russia and Canada "also have serious projects, but the lowering of the flag was simply a summer joke," Sander said. The race for sovereignty in the Arctic is intensifying partly because global warming is shrinking the polar ice, which could someday open up resource development and new shipping lanes. The pressure is also on the Arctic countries because the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea gives them 10 years after ratification to prove their claims under the largely uncharted polar ice pack. All but the U.S. have ratified the treaty. Canada ratified the treaty in 2003. Denmark, which also plans expeditions in 2009 and 2011, expects to deliver its claim in 2014, Sander said.

Danish minister scoffs at Canadian, Russian efforts to claim Arctic