Whoops! There They Go Again...

Well, they mean business. And there's big business to be had, eventually, in mining and dredging under the ocean floor to bring up the mother lodes of primary resources surely nestling there, under the deep blue sea. And Russia means to inherit as much of it as they can conceivably manage to. Thus have they conceived a novel idea by which to ensure they can claim sovereignty of this much-contested geography.

"The Arctic is Russian" proclaimed parliamentary deputy Artur Chilingarov over Russian TV. "We are going to be the first to put a flag there, a Russian flag, at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, at the very point of the North Pole." They plan to smash through the Arctic sea ice with a nuclear-powered icebreaker to access the seabed, to leave a titanium Russian flag. These guys don't fool around. They're serious.

Actually, so is Canada. Um, for that matter, the United States, Norway and Denmark. All of whom have a geographic stake within the Arctic Circle, all of whom, with their vested interests, hold out hope to be able to haul in as much of the swag as they can, to enrich their own countries' prospects in a solution toward energy self-sufficiency, and precious metals garnering.

Through International law the five countries holding territory inside the Arctic Circle are limited to a 320-kilometre economic zone, radiating out from their respective coastlines. Russia is ambitious, all the more so with its newfound fossil-fuels-funded economy, its new place in the power hierarchy, taking up where it left off before the dissolution of the USSR.

And then there's always the substantial heads-up in ocean voyaging and the passage of goods through a newly opened shortcut for ships sailing between Asia and North America. It's in the near future, it would appear, as the sea ice slowly (not so slowly, according to scientists) recedes and opens a clearer, less ice-impassible passageway. Canada claims ownership of that area, that soon-to-be-realized passageway.

Knock-knock, who's there? It's me, the U.S., and Russia, and Norway, and Sweden...can we come through?

That politesse will permit passage, since with the enquiry comes the face-saving acknowledgement that one is trespassing, without permission. The United States is in the process of challenging Canada's sovereignty, and Russia is right up there too, claiming its scientists have evidence supporting Russia's claim to 1.2 million square kilometres of the Arctic seafloor through an underwater shelf jutting out from the main land mass, extending into the ocean.

"Canadian and Russian officials have discussed our respective continental-shelf research programs and Canada was made aware of plans for a Russian expedition. Canada will continue to assert its sovereignty in the Arctic, including our internal waters." So there, you doubters. Let there be no lingering doubts, Canada fully intends to insist on her historic title to the challenged area.

"Canada's sovereignty over the lands and waters of the Canadian Arctic is long-standing, well-established and based on historic title," sniffs Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs. We have our presence, it's just not all that visible. Absent high-powered ice breakers we have our doughty and reliable first Canadians, our proud Inuit Rangers who patrol the territory, knowing it well traditionally.

"I think we will be the first submarines to travel along the ocean floor under the north Pole; we will raise Russia's prestige" said one of the team members. Not the first, since the USS Nautilus was, in 1958, during an uninterrupted sea floor voyage. "We will be the first to see the seabed under the North Pole, and we will plant a Russian flag" asserts the expedition's Anatoly Sagalevich.

Not wishing to ant-up anyone's picnic, but Russia's submariners have had quite a quixotic time of untoward events in the past, including a true tragedy with the loss of 7 lives in the near past. And in this particular instance the plan is for the submarine to be launched through the ice, coast along the bottom, plant the flag, and re-surface.

Let us sincerely hope they will not be trapped under the ice. It might prove to be a mean trick of underwater navigation to resurface just at the very same entry-space where they entered. You know that old adage about the best laid plans of Russians and submarines, don't you?

Besides, Canada will be extremely piqued.