Putin Claims North Pole - and all gas, oil & diamonds

[Holly_Hobby]

Putin's Arctic invasion: Russia lays claim to the North Pole - and all its gas, oil, and diamonds
Last updated at 00:26am on 29th June 2007

Russian leader Vladimir Putin is trying to Annex the North Pole

Russian President Vladimir Putin is making an astonishing bid to grab a vast chunk of the Arctic - so he can tap its vast potential oil, gas and mineral wealth.

His scientists claim an underwater ridge near the North Pole is really part of Russia's continental shelf.

One newspaper printed a map of the "new addition", a triangle five times the size of Britain with twice as much oil as Saudi Arabia.

The dramatic move provoked an international outcry. The U.S. and Canada expressed shock and environment campaigners said it would be a disaster.

...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=464921&in_page_id=1811

[WCGreen]

1. Well George, how do we stop that....

How's your buddy Puttie Put doing now...

Oh yea that's right, you're hell bent on getting evl doers...

[Crayson]

30. how can one claim UNDERWATER ??? Or by tectonical plates?

The north pole is an ice cap swimming on the ocean.

Do we define national boundries by tectonical plates now??
Can Putin annect China and Europe too? We're on the asian contienal plate too...
^_^

[BushOut06]

2. Bush is just pissed off that he didn't think of it sooner

If he had, we'd already be up there drilling.

[Swamp Rat]

3. WWIII

[ellisonz]

4. Exxon and De Beers of course object.

[City Lights]

5. Look out. George might launch a pre-emptive strike up there.

:scared:

[muntrv]

6. Dammit, we gotta send our military to stop this!

:sarcasm:

[Totally Committed]

7. So, when will George go in looking for WMDs, do you think?

It's about time for another invasion, doncha think? And, here we were all thinking it would be Iran that was next.

TC

[eppur_se_muova]

8. No! Not Santa's workshop! nt

[RufusTFirefly]

9. And those even scarier Canadians claim some of the Arctic too!

In a territorial dispute now linked to the global warming problem, Canada criticizes the United States, European Union and even Japan for not recognising its 1986 claim of sovereignty to waters around the Arctic archipelago. The United States insists that these are international waters.
Source

(Nice artwork, SwampRat!)

[Monk06]

18. And that is the crux of the problem. US refusal to recognize ...

Canada's claim of sovereignty over the North West
passage has left the door open to Putin's latest
gambit.

The NW Passage is completely contained within
Canada's sovereign territory even with a 30
limit. A 200 mile offshore economic zone puts
the NW Passage and much of the seabed withing
the Arctic Circle in Canadian hands.

The US said no and has refused to allow Canadian
pilots aboard US flagged vessels.

This has prompted Denmark to make spurious claims
over the Davis Straight. Has the US sided with Canada
against Denmark? No, nine, nada because the US wants
unrestricted access to Canadian waterways and their
under sea resources.

Result? Putin can tell the US and Canada to go pound
sand or in this case ice.

[Solly Mack]

10. Who gets Santa?

the really important question

[Horse with no Name]

12. I don't know but Ms. Claus is going to be pissed

:silly:

[Solly Mack]

15. the elves will fight back!

and the war on Christmas goes into full swing!

[Uncle Joe]

23. But Bush looked in to Putin's eyes and saw his soul, surely he wouldn't attack Santa?! n/t

[Solly Mack]

27. Yeah but Bush was drunk when he got a peek

[Skink]

11. They are going to sneak up and suck the oil out from our side.

[Wickerman]

13. GWB looked into his eyes, saw his soul and said,

"damn, that man has a dark a soul as mine own."

Shame that he is so much smarter.

[Horse with no Name]

14. Not to be stereotypical

But I sure as hell wouldn't get between a Russian and diamonds.:scared:

[stevedeshazer]

16. Okay, Canada

This one is yours.

Norway, Finland, Denmark (via Greenland), who will own the Arctic? It's on you.

Talk about Cold War...

And don't give me any Ted Stevens smack. Alaska's government representatives, both state and federal, are so deep into the pockets of Big Petroleum and scandal that they are irrelevant to this debate, not to mention the ongoing meltdown of the Bush Crime Family.

Where is Mr Harper on this? It seems like you guys would be the biggest players in the Arctic resources debate versus the Russians.

[pitohui]

19. yeah nice map

players look to be usa, canada, russia, norway, denmark...one would hope this is divided up peacefully but who knows?

[Monk06]

20. Read my post above. How is it in our hands when the US has fought

every Canadian claim of sovereignty in the Arctic
since the Nautilus navigated the NW Passage over
forty years ago.

The US has actively frustrated Canadian Arctic
sovereignty and now all of a sudden it's our
problem?

[stevedeshazer]

22. I agree with you

I read your posts.

My point is, will the Canadian government actively resist the Russians?

Yeah, it is your problem.

I despise my government's meddling in Canada's affairs regarding the Arctic.

Specifically, Canada claims sovereignty over their Arctic domain, and hell yes rightfully so!

The big question I have is, will Canada stand up to Russia and Putin on this issue?

[Monk06]

28. Short of making a lot of noise I don't think Canada is in a strong

position by the look of the map on page

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=464921&in_page_id=1811

You'll notice that the area Russian is claiming is well beyond
Canada's 200 mile limit.

Also the Lomonosov Ridge is not associated geologically with
Canada's northern archipelago.

So the only objection Canada could make is to Russia's claim
that the Lomonosov Ridge is connected to their continental
shelf.

Unfortunately Geologists disagree with each other almost as
often as they agree and undersea geology is not very amenable
to field work, that is the close visual inspection of stratigraphy
and faulting.

Harper will probably bark a bit because he is from Alberta and so
was born hating Russia. Putin will just tell him to go shit in his
hat.

[blues90]

17. What's going on now ? are they dividing up the planet

for the great stand off ?

[kestrel91316]

21. That's ok. We'll just up him one and claim Antarctica and the oil underneath it.

[Gloria]

24. Watch out. The Canadians are prepared to fight over a lot of the

potential waterways as the ice melts.....

[Canuckistanian]

25. Doubtful they'll find any natural resources at the North Pole

At least not diamonds. The whole region is under a thick ice cap.

Not to mention that the whole region is going to be unstable because of shifting melt patterns. Meltwater has been seen at the pole before.

[entanglement]

26. The struggle of the global elite for control of natural resources will intensify

and ultimately lead to war - it is inevitable

[muriel_volestrangler]

29. Map of the area showing undersea features

Denmark, via Greenland, and Canada may both claim the Lomonosov Ridge as extensions of their continental shelf too: http://a76.dk/expeditions_uk/lorita-1_uk/index.html