Replies

No Child, no matter how you play this off in your pathetic classes, it ain't a legitimate issue

Ah, the ad hominem. Sure sign of a losing argument.

If you claim "Wrangell" then you can't explain why there is no Russian guard tower on that Alaskan island or why their U.S. chamber of commerce web site is still online.

For those of you keeping score, it was Southack who confused Wrangell, Alaska with Wrangel (sometimes spelled Wrangell) Island. Now, in a nice example of chutzpah, he is trying to lay his confusion at the feet of his opponents.

If you claim "Wrangel" then you can't explain the dearth of Alaskan eskimoes (per the article for this thread), the lack of Guano Treaty applicability (the only potential shot at having any U.S. sovereignty there), or the Russian wildlife refuge there.

Wrangel Island was never claimed under the Guano Island Act. This is a complete fabrication on Southack's part. The US claim is based on the first landing on the Island by the USS Corwin in 1881, where Samuel Hopper, Captain, USN, "Went on shore and took possession of in the name of the United States". The Soviet Union's establishment of a gulag on the island, which Southack seems unaccountably to believe gives them claim on it, came much later.

Jesse Helms' commentary on the status of the five Arctic islands remains unrebutted.

"Ah, the ad hominem. Sure sign of a losing argument."

Physician, heal thyself.

"Despite the hysterical ranting of certain Bushbots on this thread, this appears to be a legitimate issue."

56 posted on 03/22/2004 3:19:27 PM CST by Right Wing Professor

"For those of you keeping score, it was Southack who confused Wrangell, Alaska with Wrangel (sometimes spelled Wrangell) Island. Now, in a nice example of chutzpah, he is trying to lay his confusion at the feet of his opponents."

No. From the article for this thread, above:

"So where exactly are these disputed islands? The Arctic islands, which lie west of Alaska and north of Siberia, include the islands of Wrangell, Herald, Bennett, Jeannette and Henrietta."

And now from our dear Professor...

"Wrangel Island is 2925 sq. miles in area. It is not a guano island; in fact it's snow- and ice-covered."

60 posted on 03/22/2004 4:07:56 PM CST by Right Wing Professor

"Wrangel Island was never claimed under the Guano Island Act. This is a complete fabrication on Southack's part." - Right Wing Professor

No, it's not a fabrication; it's simply giving my feeble opponents, such as yourself, the benefit of the doubt as there is no other possible legal grounds for claiming a Siberian island that Russia didn't explicitly sell to us in our 1867 Alaska Purchase.

Had there been a Guano claim, then there would at least be some remote legal merit for this tinfoil thread and its tinfoil adherents.

Barring such a claim, then any territorial claim of a Russian island by any U.S. Captain would need U.S. Congressional support...something that Wrangel (with one "l") doesn't have (see the OFFICIAL U.S. State Department notice on Wrangel that I posted on this very thread).