Canada flexes military muscles in race for Arctic resources

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Faced with increasingly aggressive measures by competing nations, all eager to exploit the thawing Arctic's immense potential for new transit routes and previously inaccessible natural resources, Canada is launching Operation Nanook, a summer military exercise off Baffin Island.

The Canadians have been gradually extending their military presence in the region in the face of incursions not only by Russian vessels and forces but also those of the US, Norway and Denmark, which are also laying claim to expanded territories exposed by the shrinking ice.

"Canada's military spending and movements are less about a threat perception and more an assertion of authority," Christian Leuprecht, associate professor of political science at the Royal Military College of Canada in Ontario, told Deutsche Welle.

"International law dictates that a country's rights to territory in the Arctic is dependent on its ability to protect it."

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15267694,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-world-4025-rdf