Canadian Military Plans Summer Arctic Mission [territorial dispute with Denmark denied as motive]

CTV.ca ^ | March 27, 2004 | CTV.ca News Staff

[mvpel]

Canada may be pulling back from overseas military commitments, but is planning to "flex its muscles" with an exercise on home soil by sending a warship, a squadron of helicopters and 200 troops to the high Arctic this summer.

News of the operation was reported in Saturday's edition of The National Post.

The military says the three-week long exercise has nothing to do with a brewing territorial dispute with Denmark over the ownership of a tiny island between Ellesesmere Island and Greenland.

The operation, code-mamed Narwhal, is the first time the military will have a joint naval, air and land force operating so far north.

Colonel Norris Pettis, commander of the Canadian Forces northern area, told The National Post that the operation is about "sending a message that this land is important to us...that we can put troops, and aircraft and ships, on the ground to respond to whatever we might be called upon to deal with."

Pettis said the "robust" military presence is a sign that Canada is "flexing our muscles" in the Arctic.

The Danish ambassador to Canada, Svend Roed Nielsen, has offered to negotiate with Canadian diplomats about the fate of Hans Island, a three-kilometre-long stretch of rock and ice in the Nares Strait.

Both countries claim ownership of the barren and uninhabited island.

"As far as Canada-Danish relations are concerned we have tried to keep this low-key [but] we have agreed to disagree," Foreign Affairs spokesman Reynald Doiron told the Post.

A Danish warship sailed past Hans Island in 2002 and a group of soldiers disembarked and reportedly hoisted the Danish flag, an act Canada claimed was a violation of its sovereignty.

Canada has launched a five-year plan to increase its military presence throughout the Arctic, including satellite surveillance and far-reaching patrols of soldiers on snowmobiles.

[mvpel]

Is a Canadian-Danish war brewing? A Canadian coworker suggested that maybe they could settle it with a beer-drinking contest.

[-YYZ-]

Unlikely. In any case, other than the principle of the matter, I could really care less if Denmark takes this god-forsaken icy rock in the far north.

[MD_Willington_1976]

I think the Inuit will just shoot the whole lot of them (Canuks & Danes) and then Nunavit will have it's own warships and equipment.

[BlueLancer]

"..."flex its muscles" with an exercise on home soil by sending a warship ..."

CANADIAN WARSHIP SEIZES TANKER IN... WAIT...CANADA HAS A WARSHIP?

[EQAndyBuzz]

Take a Sharpie and draw a line down the middle.

Canada, you get this 20 feet of island.
Denmark, you get the other 20 feet of island.

[eyespysomething]

A Narwhal

[luvbach1]

Peace-loving Canucks more willing to take on peace-loving Danes than the terrorists? Remember, before making any moves, the Danes are decendants of the fearsome and war-like Vikings.

[marlon]

C'mon this has got to be from the Onion. Besides everyone knows Canada has no stinkin war ships.

[Humvee]

What a war this could be - the Canadian platoon against the danish platoon.

[Husker24]

How would you like to be stationed on that island, whats the point?

[Loyalist]

Rudyard Kipling, "Dane-geld":


IT IS always a temptation to an armed and agile nation,
To call upon a neighbour and to say:—
“We invaded you last night—we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away.”

And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you’ve only to pay ’em the Dane-geld
And then you’ll get rid of the Dane!

It is always a temptation to a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say:—
“Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away.”

And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we’ve proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.

It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray,
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to says:—

“We never pay any one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost,
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that plays it is lost!”

[Shermy]

How would you like to be stationed on that island, whats the point?

Follow da oil?

[blanknoone]

I'm wondering how the EU and the UN will align in the coming struggle.

[Shermy]

Here's some background:

The Return of the Vikings - New Challenges for the Control of the Canadian North

[DTA]

>>>>>> a squadron of helicopters<<<<<<

That's the humorous part.

[Great Dane]

A Canadian coworker suggested that maybe they could settle it with a beer-drinking contest.

LOL, In that case...... give it up Canada.

[Great Dane]

a squadron of helicopters<<<<<< That's the humorous part.

Yeah, the Sea Kings..... that'll do it.

[Great Dane]

a squadron of helicopters<<<<<< That's the humorous part.

Yeah, the Sea Kings..... that'll do it.

[DTA]

>>>>>>Is a Canadian-Danish war brewing? A Canadian coworker suggested that maybe they could settle it with a beer-drinking contest.<<<<<

And The Rock goes to the winner of ....ing contest :-) Loser will pick up the tab. Better that way than kids getting hurt

[cynicom]

If the Danes invade canada where do I enlist, to help the Danes?