Home› Politics & Debate
If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Options

Russia claims The North Pole

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in Politics & Debate
Another...erm, "cold" war coming?

:chin:

Comments

  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Good luck to 'em I say. In a few years there'll be nothing left. Muahhahahahahahahahahahahha haahhaahhahahah hahahaha ha ha.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I thought the poles were officially classed as 'international'
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Renzo wrote: »
    I thought the poles were officially classed as 'international'

    I think that's the case since it's technically an ocean, and therefore international waters (ice).
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    A treaty allowed certain nations to make a claim to extend its territory in the north pole and i reckon Russia will get a substantial chunk of it.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    No doubt the very substantial reserves of oil and gas believed to be buried in the land are just a happy coincidence.

    Dodgy cunts.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote: »
    cunts.


    you really like calling people cunts dont you
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Meh, when we need oil we can just start digging under the Falklands. Let them have the North pole, if there is oil under there they'll run out soon anyway.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Does this strike anyone else as quite childish, surely we have gone past the stage of claiming land with a flag?
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    budda wrote: »
    Does this strike anyone else as quite childish, surely we have gone past the stage of claiming land with a flag?

    It seems quite smart given that its got about a quarter of the world's untapped oil...
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Flashman's Ghost wrote: »
    It seems quite smart given that its got about a quarter of the world's untapped oil...

    Wont it be deep sea drilling though which is really difficult and really expensive?
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    And the environmental consequences could be catastrophic.

    The Russian government becomes more rogue by the day.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    budda wrote: »
    Wont it be deep sea drilling though which is really difficult and really expensive?

    Its not cost effective at the moment, but as easy to get at oil becomes scarce we'll move towards renewable sources and paying more for hard to get oil
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Flashman's Ghost wrote: »
    Its not cost effective at the moment, but as easy to get at oil becomes scarce we'll move towards renewable sources and paying more for hard to get oil

    Very much like the oil shales in Northern Canada, its oil soaked sand which is only economical to mine when the oil price is high.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Expect the US to retaliate by claiming the moon...
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Thunderstruck wrote: »
    Expect the US to retaliate by claiming the moon...

    Does it have oil?
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Flashman's Ghost wrote: »
    Does it have oil?

    No, but it could help if there was a future cheese shortage.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    budda wrote: »
    No, but it could help if there was a future cheese shortage.

    :D An attempt by the US to win a trade war with France p'haps
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Does anyone have a claim to all the magma in the Earths core? Surely it could be used for something? To heat Bono's 40 houses, maybe.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    RiSe & ShIne wrote: »
    Does anyone have a claim to all the magma in the Earths core? Surely it could be used for something? To heat Bono's 40 houses, maybe.

    A large chunk of Icelands power is made that way.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    RiSe & ShIne wrote: »
    Does anyone have a claim to all the magma in the Earths core? Surely it could be used for something? To heat Bono's 40 houses, maybe.

    Well since it's Bono it certainly won't be used to save the world.
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Things are heating up, if you'll pardon the pun

    Canada to build two military bases in Arctic in sovereignty row
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    rachie004 wrote: »
    I thought they were polish...

    I'll get my coat

    :lol::lol::lol::lol:
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    _44032776_chilingarov203ap.jpg

    Russia ahead in Arctic 'gold rush'
    By Paul Reynolds
    World Affairs correspondent, BBC News website

    The Russians are leading a new "gold rush" in the high north, with a bold attempt to assert a claim to oil, gas and mineral rights over large parts of the Arctic Ocean up to the North Pole.

    Artur Chilingarov
    New "goldminer": Artur Chilingarov

    Russia's most famous explorer, Artur Chilingarov, complete with nautical beard :lol: led the expedition to plant the Russian flag in a capsule on the ocean seabed under the pole itself.

    "The Arctic is Russian," Chilingarov said earlier. "We must prove the North Pole is an extension of the Russian coastal shelf."

    Russia is claiming that an underwater mountain known as the Lomonosov Ridge is actually an extension of the Russian landmass.

    This, it argues, justifies its claim to a triangular area up to the pole, giving it rights under the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention.

    Under Article 76 of the convention, a state can claim a 200 nautical mile exclusive zone and beyond that up to 150 nautical miles of rights on the seabed. The baseline from which these distances are measured depends on where the continental shelf ends.

    See a detailed map of the region

    Russia lodged a formal claim in 2001 but the UN's Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf told it to resubmit the claim. The flag-planting can be seen as a symbolic gesture in support.

    At the same time, other states are acting to protect their interests in the Arctic. Canada is planning to build up to eight new patrol ships and the US Congress is considering a proposal to build two new heavy polar ships.

    The rush for the Arctic has become more frenzied because of the melting of parts of the polar ice cap, which will allow easier exploration, and by the urgent need for new sources of oil and gas. A new sense of nationalism is also evident in Russia.

    Russian map claiming rights up to North Pole
    Shaded area on Russian map shows claim up to North Pole

    The ice thaw is predicted by a team of international researchers whose Arctic Climate Impact Assessment suggested in 2004 that the summer ice cap could melt completely before the end of this century because of global warming.

    If the ice retreats, it could open up new shipping routes and new areas where natural resources could be exploited.

    The US Geological Survey estimates that a quarter of the world's undiscovered energy resources lies in Arctic areas.

    At the moment, nobody's shelf extends up to the North Pole so there is an international area around the Pole administered by the International Seabed Authority from Kingston, Jamaica.

    But quite apart from the Russian claim there are multiple other disputes.

    The US and Canada argue over rights in the North-west Passage, Norway and Russia differ over the Barents Sea, Canada and Denmark are competing over a small island off Greenland, the Russian parliament is refusing to ratify an agreement with the US over the Bering Sea and Denmark is claiming the North Pole itself.

    North Pole solutions

    The five countries involved are considering two other potential ways of sharing the region, in which all the sea would be divided between them.

    The "median line method", supported by Canada and Denmark, would divide the Arctic waters between countries according to their length of nearest coastline. This would give Denmark the Pole itself but Canada would gain as well.

    The "sector method" would take the North Pole as the centre and draw lines south along longitudes. This would penalise Canada but Norway and, to a lesser extent, Russia, would gain.

    One major problem is that the United States has not ratified the 1982 UN convention, largely because senators did not want to have international restrictions placed on American actions.

    However, in May 2007, Senator Richard Lugar, a senior Republican, pleaded for ratification in the light of the Russian moves, saying that an American voice was needed at the negotiating table.

    ...
  • Options
    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Can you beleive this? Read on!...

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2146615,00.html
    Revealed: why those Russian submarine heroics might have looked a little familiar


    · Underwater footage was borrowed from Titanic
    · 13-year-old boy spotted scenes shot with models

    Tom Parfitt in Moscow
    Saturday August 11, 2007
    The Guardian

    Unearthly blue lights played across the ocean floor two and a half miles below the north pole as the heroic Russian explorers descended in mini submarines to plant a metre-high flag.

    At least that's what the Russian state television company Rossiya wanted us to believe. The truth was rather different.

    In an apparent attempt to "sex up" a news programme, the TV station has been caught passing off footage from the 1997 Hollywood blockbuster Titanic as a real life report on the Kremlin's recent attempt to stake its claim to the riches of the Arctic Ocean.

    Article continues
    Rossiya's images were distributed all over the world, appearing on television news broadcasts and websites in Britain and as "screen grabs" in newspapers.

    It took an alert teenager in Finland with a Titanic DVD to spot the sham. Waltteri Seretin, 13, from Kemi, 450 miles north of Helsinki, recognised the images in the national daily Ilta-Sanomat.

    "I was looking at the photo of the Russian sub expedition and I noticed immediately that there was something familiar about the picture," he told the paper. "I checked it with my DVD and there it was right there in the beginning of the movie: exactly the same image of the submer-sibles approaching the ship."

    James Cameron's film about the 1912 disaster, which starred Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, opens with a scene of mini-subs diving to inspect the wreck of Titanic. In the Russian television report about the north pole, expedition, images from the movie were inserted seamlessly into real footage and bore an on-screen caption reading "northern Arctic Ocean".

    As the Titanic images were shown on the Vesti news programme, a correspondent said: "When the mini submarine got to 300 metres, the unloading of the second sub began."

    The two mini subs used by the Russian scientists, Mir-1 and Mir-2, were in fact made by a Finnish company and were used by Cameron in his film. However, it is thought the scene from the movie shown on Rossiya's Vesti news programme was originally filmed using scale models in a studio.

    Rossiya is one of two state-controlled channels that have been turned into propaganda tools under President Vladimir Putin and it is the second time in less than a fortnight that Vesti has faked a broadcast.

    Ten days ago it mocked up a copy of the Times newspaper to make it appear as though the paper had run a critical article on the London-based businessman Boris Berezovsky on its front page. In fact the article had appeared in the comment section.

    Rossiya refused to comment on the "polar" footage, but the boy who identified it gave his damning indictment.

    "I've heard they don't always tell the truth in Russia, but I didn't think they could have screwed it up that badly," said the teenager, who has watched Titanic at home on numerous occasions.

    Russia's dive in two mini subs last week was trumpeted by Moscow as a PR coup in its effort to prove the Arctic is Russian. Veteran explorer Artur Chilingarov and his team returned to a heroes' welcome.

    The TV fiasco will add fresh controversy to the expedition, which caused scorn and resentment among other northern hemisphere nations bent on getting their share of the Arctic's energy riches - at least 10bn tonnes of hydrocarbons.

    Alexei Simonov of the Glasnost Defence Foundation, said there had been a clear attempt by the Russian channel to dupe viewers: "This is a sign of the sheer unprofessionalism that reigns when TV is turned into a pawn of the authorities."
Sign In or Register to comment.