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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 08/11/2007 : 05:48:13
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The ice is melting in the Arctic Ocean, and navigation is getting easier. Old-style imperial designs are being pulled out of history books, dusted off, and placed into national agendas. This matter is developing fast, with new claims and posturing coming in almost daily.
The thawing bone of contention.
Under the Arctic's surface is an estimated 25% of all the remaining, unpumped oil in the world.
Shootin' wars get fought over that messy stuff.
An international treaty keeps the Arctic from being taken by these nations, but that's changing:Under international law, no country currently owns the North Pole or the region of the Arctic Ocean surrounding it. The five surrounding Arctic states, Russia, the United States (via Alaska), Canada, Norway and Denmark (via Greenland), are limited to a 370km (200 nm) economic zone around their coasts. [1]
Upon ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a country has a ten year period to make claims to extend its 200 nautical mile zone.[2] Due to this, Norway (ratified the convention in 1996[3]), Russia (ratified the convention in 1997[3]), Canada (ratified in 2003[3]) and Denmark (ratified in 2004[3]) launched projects to base claims that certain Arctic sectors should belong to their territories. |
Wiki says:| It was stated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on March 25, 2007, that riches are waiting the shipping industry due to Arctic climate change. This economic sector could be transformed similar to the way the Middle East was by the Suez Canal in the 19th century. There will be a race among nations for oil, fish, diamonds and shipping routes, accelerated by the impact of global warming.[14] |
Northern nations are in a rush to stake their territorial claims to the seabed, all the way to the pole. The Arctic is shaping up to be new bone of contention, like overseas territories were to the Western empires of the 19th Century. Several nations have laid claim to parts of the Arctic beyond their 200-mile territorial limits. Russia, Denmark, Norway, and Canada all have active, sometimes competing, claims. The United States, though not yet making specific claims of its own, disputes claims such as those of Canada.
The Russians have not been shy: | On August 2, 2007, a Russian expedition of six explorers led by Arthur Chilingarov, employing MIR submersibles, for the first time in history descended to the seabed below the North Pole. Here they planted the flag of Russia and took water and soil samples for analysis, continuing a mission to provide additional evidence related to the Russian claim of the mineral riches of the Arctic. |
Russia's Arctic claim (shaded areas).
Canada has launched the establishment of two far-north military bases, to bolster its claim to exclusive rights to the entire North-West Passage zone between its arctic islands. Canada is buying six patrol ships to enforce that claim.
Denmark, via its Greenland province, claims the seabed between Greenland and the North Pole: | The Danish autonomous province of Greenland has the nearest coastline to the North Pole, and Denmark argues that the Lomonosov Ridge is in fact an extension of Greenland. |
Norway, too, has claims: | On November 27, 2006, Norway also made an official submission into the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (article 76, paragraph 8). There are provided arguments to extend the Norwegian 320 kilometre zone in three areas of the North-Eastern Atlantic and the Arctic: the Loop Hole in the Barents Sea, the Western Nansen Basin in the Arctic Ocean, and the Banana Hole in the Norwegian Sea. The submission also states that an additional submission for continental shelf limits in other areas may be posted later.[9 |
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
Edited by - HalfMooner on 08/11/2007 07:26:02
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pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2007 : 05:56:34 [Permalink]
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| If I were a conspiracy nut I would say that global warming was being actively pursued to melt the ice to get at the rest of the oil. And that everyone is involved in it. Perhaps even to setup a rival cartel to OPEC, and to help further diminish the super-power of the US and now China. |
by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2007 : 06:00:55 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by pleco
If I were a conspiracy nut I would say that global warming was being actively pursued to melt the ice to get at the rest of the oil. And that everyone is involved in it. Perhaps even to setup a rival cartel to OPEC, and to help further diminish the super-power of the US and now China.
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Hey, I like it!
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2007 : 06:13:18 [Permalink]
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| If you want some icing, I'll add that the end result is to give the EU superpower status and eventually setup a one-world government. And I have absolutely no direct proof of any of this. Maybe I should setup my own web site to promote this! lol |
by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2007 : 06:15:32 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by pleco
If you want some icing, I'll add that the end result is to give the EU superpower status and eventually setup a one-world government. And I have absolutely no direct proof of any of this. Maybe I should setup my own web site to promote this! lol
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Hell, yes! If your conscience bothers you, make it a site that spoofs conspiracy theories through bad example.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 08/11/2007 : 06:40:42 [Permalink]
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Hoard canned goods and stockpile ammunition....
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2007 : 06:51:47 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by filthy
Hoard canned goods and stockpile ammunition....
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Hoard ice, especially.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 08/11/2007 : 18:30:17 [Permalink]
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Thinking about the potential Arctic oil competition, it occurred to me that, if this continues in the direction it seems to be heading, one of the next steps would logically be the formation of blocs or alliances.
If so, my guess is that the alliances would probably form based upon geographic details. Canada and Russia seem natural allies, as their claims don't seem to overlap or even border one another. Also, the US and Denmark could support one another's claims for the same reason. It's not so clear to me how Norway might swing, as its claims are likely to be between, or overlapping, Russia's and Denmark's.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 08/11/2007 18:31:28 |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2007 : 20:14:06 [Permalink]
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The US is now laying the groundwork for its own claim to a pie-slice of the North Polar seabed, offshore from Alaska's North Slope. Can't have an international landgrab without us Grabmeisters involved:WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Coast Guard cutter is headed to the Arctic this week on a mapping mission to determine whether part of this area can be considered U.S. territory, after recent polar forays by Russia and Canada.
The four-week cruise of the Coast Guard Cutter Healy starts Friday and aims to map the sea floor on the northern Chukchi Cap, an underwater plateau that extends from Alaska's North Slope some 500 miles northward. |
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 08/13/2007 20:18:32 |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2007 : 23:06:49 [Permalink]
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Here's a rough graphic I made from the map in the OP, to show how I'm guessing the claims might eventually look, assuming no overlap. Russia gets almost half, simply due to its immensity. The sloppy shadings I did around potential claims by Denmark and Norway are purest guesswork, as opposed to the impure guesswork elsewhere.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 08/13/2007 23:29:05 |
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MMGW's bastard child: Is a Polar War brewing?
