Russia Pushes To Claim Arctic As Its Own

NPR ^ | August 16, 2011 | David Greene

[americanophile]

I know it’s been an issue for a while. The truth of the matter is that no one truly owns the artic seabed, as with the world’s other major seas and oceans outside territorial waters. If we want to extend the exclusive economic zones, then it only makes sense to apportion them in pie-shaped size according to each nation’s coastal frontage. Russia’s claim is preposterous. Canada, and for that matter Denmark, certainly have stronger immediate territorial claims because of landmasses like Ellesmere and Greenland, though I wouldn’t be especially supportive of any nation’s claim to the seabed multiple hundreds of miles from the nearest landmass.

[americanophile]

I know it’s been an issue for a while. The truth of the matter is that no one truly owns the artic seabed, as with the world’s other major seas and oceans outside territorial waters. If we want to extend the exclusive economic zones, then it only makes sense to apportion them in pie-shaped size according to each nation’s coastal frontage. Russia’s claim is preposterous. Canada, and for that matter Denmark, certainly have stronger immediate territorial claims because of landmasses like Ellesmere and Greenland, though I wouldn’t be especially supportive of any nation’s claim to the seabed multiple hundreds of miles from the nearest landmass.

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

for Russia, that 2007 research mission was only the beginning of a major drive to claim ownership of vast portions of the Arctic, as well as the oil and gas deposits that are beneath.