Depends on Whose Ox Is Being Gored

"There are two rumours afloat tonight, but we can confirm nothing. One, that the German fleet has sailed into the Kattegat, north of Denmark, west of Sweden and south of Norway, and is heading for the Skagerrak. Two, that a German expeditionary force is forming at the Baltic pots and that dozens of passenger ships have been hurriedly collected to transport it to Scandinavia."

April 9, 1940

"Hitler this spring day has occupied a couple more countries. At dawn Nazi forces invaded the two neutral states of Denmark and Norway in order, as an official statement piously puts it, 'to protect their freedom and independence'. After twelve swift hours it seems all but over. Denmark, with whom Hitler signed a ten-year non-aggression pact only a year ago, has been completely overrun, and all important military points in Norway, including the capital, are now in Nazi hands. The news is stupefying. Copenhagen occupied this morning, Oslo this afternoon, Kristiansand this evening. All the great Norwegian ports, Narvik, Trondheim, Bergen, Stavanger, captured."

"The Fuhrer has given his answer ... Germany has occupied Danish and Norwegian soil in order to protect those countries from the Allies, and will defend their true neutrality until the end of the war." 

"A special communique of the High Command said Copenhagen had been completely occupied by eight a.m. The German forces, it said, had been transported in ships from Baltic ports during the night, landed at Copenhagen at dawn, and had first occupied the citadel and the radio station."

"It was clear that the Danes had offered no resistance whatsoever. The Norwegians, it appeared, had, though the Germans were confident it would cease by nightfall."

"The Danish Minister here had protested in the Wilhelmstrasse early this morning, but had added quickly that Denmark was not in a position to fight Germany. The Norwegians were not supposed to fight, but apparently did. There are reports of German naval losses. All the Danish and Norwegian correspondents were fished out of their beds at dawn this morning and locked up at the Kaiserhof. It was the first they knew that their countries had been 'protected'.

"Tomorrow the Volkische Beobacter, Hitler's own pride (and money-maker) will bannerline in red ink: "GERMANY SAVES SCANDINAVIA!"

Berlin Diary, William L. Shirer 

Arrival of a transport of Dutch Jews in the Theresienstadt ghetto. Czechoslovakia, February 1944.

"...Thanks to the proximity of Sweden 7,200 Jews and some 700 of their non-Jewish relatives were transported to safety in the course of three weeks in October 1943. In some cases Jews were caught by the local authorities; some did not want to leave; others had no means or connections enabling them to embark on the journey. A total of 482 Jews, mostly elderly and sick, were caught and deported to the camp of Theresienstadt."

"The rescue operation by the Danish underground is exceptional because of the widespread agreement and resolve of many Danes from all walks of life – intellectuals, priests, policemen, doctors, blue-color workers – to save the Jews. While some Danes were pro-Nazi and even joined the Waffen SS and participated in war crimes, the underground members implemented the unique rescue. They viewed it as a national refutation of Nazi Germany and a reaffirmation of democratic and humanistic values. It should be noted that since the 1990’s historians have uncovered new perspectives of this operation. Danish scholars have shown that in many cases big sums of money were paid to the seamen who brought the Jews across to Sweden."

Yad Vashem 

 

That was then. This is now. Now, Denmark and Sweden suggest that Israel be booted out of the United Nations. This would be the United Nations that has, over the years, sanctioned Israel on hundreds of occasions while studiously overlooking the human rights abuses of two members of the permanent Security Council, China and Russia, and obliging Iran with critical UN positions and rarely sanctioning any Islamic-majority states for their institutionalized human rights crimes. Denmark has, while declaring itself a friend of Israel and is a home to 7,000 Danish Jews, consistently voted against Israel at the UN.

 

Statement on behalf of Denmark, France, Greece, Slovenia and the United Kingdom.We welcome the important progress that has been made in recent months to end the bloodshed in Gaza, secure the release of the hostages and turn the page on two tragic years of conflict.While the international community is focused on building a peaceful and prosperous future for Gaza, we must not forget what is happening in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

 

Israel has suffered 80 years of grievous violence committed against it and its people through lethal attacks by the Palestinian community in its unrelenting war against the Jewish State. While European countries talk incessantly of a 'two-state solution', and Israel was willing to make an agreement with the leaders of the Palestinians, each one was refused, even when Israel's outreach sought to make accommodations for all the demands of the Palestinians. To no avail. To this day, no Palestinian leader will agree to recognize Israel. Without that formal concession there is no two-state solution. For Palestinians anticipate that only Israel's destruction is acceptable, leaving the Palestinians to claim Judean ancestral land for their own.

 

The fiction of Palestinians living in 'occupied' territory cannot stand up to scrutiny. Without Israel's constant military oversight of the Palestinian territories, lethal attacks would simply proliferate as they once did, before Israel took steps to materially separate itself from the Palestinian side, making it difficult for terrorists and ordinary Palestinian citizens to enter Israel with the intention to murder Jews. With no intention to live in peace and mutual security with Israel, the Palestinians still manage to convince the West that they wish to live in peace. October 7, 2023, punctured that fantasy, but not convincingly enough for Israel's detractors.

 

Denmark has assembled the support of the European Union and other allies in its resistance to President Donald Trump's determination to coerce, threaten, and bully Greenland and Denmark into agreeing to hand over the strategic Arctic island to the United States for 'security' purposes. Denmark is outraged that the Kingdom's protectorate status of long standing of Greenland is under pressure from the United States. There is no end of support for its refusal to succumb to either blandishment or raging accusation from President Donald Trump.

 

Yet the blood shed of thousands of Israeli Jews by Palestinians and the reality that the Palestinian leadership which has groomed its population since 1948 to consider Jews and Israel their enemy needing to be vanquished by any means in an ongoing territorial battle with a country that wants and deserves to live in peace is of total disinterest to Israel's critics -- among them nations that had long been considered by Israel to be among its allies. Immense oil wealth in Arab sheikdoms has enabled states like Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iran to invest heavily in Western universities, in concert with the Muslim Brotherhood whose agenda is Israel's destruction.

 

Yet such transparent ploys fail to penetrate the logic-oblivious mind of Western governments, which  give heed to slanderous accusations against Israel, in the process to delegitimize the Jewish State whose presence is an assurance of defence of Jews throughout the world now facing a mind-wrenching ambush of virulent antisemitism fuelled by the Middle Eastern enemies of Israel who manipulate wider public opinion on charges of 'genocide' against a nation that has never been free of violent deadly attacks seeking its annihilation.

 

Greenlanders as the original inhabitants of their Arctic island, can be defended against the territorial-acquisitive manoeuvering of a powerful nation's president, with an outraged world looking on and Denmark surrounded with sympathetic allies. Israel, on the other hand, facing existential dilemmas, is viewed as an instigator of violence against a population that claims its territory as their own while perfecting terrorism to a fine degree of barbarity.

 

 

101: Making Friends and Influencing People

"As you all know, it's a big issue and it's only going to get bigger over the coming decades."

"It's cold as s--- here. Nobody told me."

"[Danish leaders have] spent decades mistreating the Greenlandic people, treating them like second-class citizens and allowing infrastructure on the island to fall into disrepair."

"Denmark has not kept pace and devoted the resources necessary to keep this base, to keep our troops, and in my view, to keep the people of Greenland safe from a lot of very aggressive incursions from Russia, from China and other nations."

"I think that they [Greenlanders] ultimately will partner with the United States. We can make them much more secure. We could do a lot more protection. And I think they'd fare a lot better economically as well."

U.S. Vice-President JD Vance

JD Vance in Greenland BBC

"[The United States] needs Greenland for international security."

"Greenland's very important for the peace of the world. And I think Denmark understands, and I think the European Union understands it. And if they don't we're going to have to explain it to them."

"We’ll get Greenland. Yeah, 100%." 

U.S. President Donald J. Trump 

"It is a time when we as a population are under pressure."

"We must stick together. Together we are stronger."

"[The U.S. visit signaled a] lack of respect."

Greenland's PM-designate Jens-Frederik Nielson

 

"[Donald Trump Jr's visit in January first sparked concerns] that’s when we realized that his words are no longer just words, he actually means what he says."

"We’re afraid of being colonized again. We’ve been a colony for the past 300 years under Denmark, it still feels like it. Now another colonizer is interested in us."

"[Greenland needs to be] open-minded [and consider strengthening relations with the US to secure a sustainable independence strategy]."

"Trump is only going to be president for the next four years so we also need to think about what’s going to happen in 10 years, 15 years."

Qupanuk Olsen, Greenland politician, pro-independence party Naleraq

U.S. Vice-President J.D. Vance was in Greenland on Friday, slamming Denmark for not doing a good job in keeping its semi-autonomous territory safe. But as Greenland content creator Qupanuk Olsen explains, many Greenlanders did not roll out the red carpet for Vance.   CBC

 

It's hard to say whether President Trump's representatives in his White House Cabinet really expected to be welcomed with huge enthusiasm by Greenlanders in their shared trip to Greenland on Friday. Originally the trip was to have lasted longer, and be more expansive, but in the face of obvious push-back by offended Greenlanders who consider their semi-autonomous government under Denmark's protection the arbiter of who should embark on a state visit to their island, and that by special invitation, an invitation that hadn't been extended. 

 

As far as Greenlanders were concerned, the visit by US. Vice-President Vance, his wife and other senior American officials took it upon themselves as an act of hubris to visit unannounced and uninvited; their home, as it were, invaded by strangers. Strangers, no less, with designs on their homeland that are extraordinarily offensive; offering to buy a home that is definitely not for sale. In the end, the visitors confined their trip to visiting the American military outpost at Pituffik on the northwest coast of Greenland. In the process, evading the risk of violating diplomacy through an uninvited delegation.

 

With U.S. President Donald Trump threatening to take over Greenland, the country’s prime minister has called a visit by a U.S. delegation a provocation and highly aggressive. The Americans on the trip include national security adviser Mike Waltz and Usha Vance, the vice-president’s wife.  CBC

Nonetheless both Greenlanders and Danes were offended that the trip took place at all, but even more so that the original itinerary had been planned without customary diplomatic consultation beforehand. Addressing American troops at the U.S. Space Force Pituffik outpost informing them that the Trump administration is very interested in "Arctic security", Vice-President Vance advanced the Trump agenda. His entourage that included national security adviser Mike Waltz, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Senator Mike Lee of Utah then received briefings from military officials present at the base.

 

"As you all know, it's a big issue and it's only going to get bigger over the coming decades", Mr. Vance advised  his listeners, as the first U.S. vice-president to ever visit Greenland. In the process of President Trump expressing his intention to 'buy' Greenland from Denmark, relations between the two nations have become extremely strained, with the U.S. President repeatedly suggesting the U.S. should control the mineral-rich territory of Denmark. It is highly unlikely that any two such allies, both NATO members, have ever collided over an issue where one coveted the territory of the other. 

Pituffik Space Base is pictured as Vance visits, on Friday in Greenland. (Jim Watson/The Associated Press)

President Trump alluded to rising Chinese and Russian interest in the Arctic, where sea lanes have begun to open in the North West Passage as a result of climate change melting sea ice. Access to the Passage -- part of Canadian territory -- will be yet another issue of aggravated presumption between the U.S. and Canada where at present, diplomacy argues that before embarking through the Passage, permission must be sought from Canada. Which feeds once again into President Trump's argument about U.S. 'security' in his wish to control Canada through annexing it into the U.S.

 

Canada, its government and its population are no more anxious to accommodate the American President's desires of territorial expansion than is Denmark/Greenland. The Pituffik Space Base owned and operated by the United States with Denmark's permission, is situated remotely, 1,100 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. Residents of Nuuk, Greenland's capital, about 1,500 kilometres south of Pituffik, voiced their concern with the U.S. delegation's visit underscoring their misgivings about the most powerful nation on earth coveting their Arctic island.

 

Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen expressed his exasperation following the Vance trip to Greenland, stating that although Denmark can deal with criticism, there is a collegial, diplomatic way of speaking to a friendly democratic ally. Through a video he posted on social media, he declared he had a message "for our American friends." 

"Much is being said these days. Many accusations and many allegations have been made."

"And of course, we are open to criticism. But let me be completely honest, we do not appreciate the tone in which it's being delivered."

"This is not how you speak to your close allies."

Larrs Lokke Rasmussen

 

Not The Expansionism of Divine Destiny

"So you have to ask yourself: How are we going to solve that problem, solve our own national security?"

"If that means that we need to take more territorial interest in Greenland, that is what President Trump is going to do, because he doesn't care about what the Europeans scream at us."

U.S. Vice-President JD Vance

 

"The U.S. has a vested security interest in the Arctic region and it should not be a surprise the National Security Adviser and Secretary of Energy are visiting a U.S. Space Base to get first-hand briefings from our service members on the ground."

Brian Hughes, spokesman, National Security Council

 

"[The visit of] the wife of the United States vice-president and the United States president's highest security adviser cannot be seen only as a private visit."

"We can already see now,  how big a mess it's caused."

"[If allied countries] do not speak out loudly about how the USA is treating Greenland, the situation will escalate day by day, and the American aggression will increase."

"[Greenland's allies should show support]; the only purpose [of a trip by Waltz is] a demonstration of power to us, and the signal is not to be misunderstood."

"We have been treated unacceptably."

Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Bourup Egede

Demonstrators protested at the United States consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, earlier this month. Credit...Christian Klindt Soelbeck/Ritzau Scanpix Foto, via Associated Press

Second lady Usha Vance, it appears, is preparing to travel to the autonomous Danish territory of Greenland even as her husband, the American vice-president, ratchets up U.S. security and "territorial" interests in the Arctic island the new Trump administration has well-ventilated designs on acquiring. The prime minister of Greenland has responded by warning of "American aggression", lamenting a "mess" the upcoming visit has caused, even as JD Vance accused Denmark of "not doing its job" and "not being a good ally".

 

Presumably, a "good ally" would fall into U.S. arms, swooning of its aspiration to become part of the United States. Denmark, for which Greenland has historically been a protectorate, even though Greenlanders themselves have an understandable preference for total sovereignty -- separation and independence from Denmark -- or any other country with designs on the largest island on Earth which the indigenous population considers their very own ancestral gift to themselves, anxious to be shed of the avarice of other countries.

 

The Trump administration may have inadvertently overlooked that Denmark, completely resistant to American overtures to 'sell' Greenland, is, of course, a member of NATO, as is the United States. Member-nations all submit to the leading tenet of membership, that all members are obligated to ensure the security of other members. 

 

Greenlandic news outlet Sermitsiaq posted photos of two U.S. Hercules workhorse military aircraft on the tarmac in Nuuk, the capital, disgorging four bulletproof vehicles awaiting the arrival of the American elite scheduled to visit, and not by invitation. National security adviser Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright are scheduled to travel to Greenland, along with "the wife of the United States vice-president". 

 

During his first term in office, President Trump had mused over buying Greenland, despite Denmark responding that it wasn't for sale. Since his return to the White House, Mr. Tramp repeatedly states that the U.S. will control Greenland, insisting that it is a requirement for strategic national security purposes, and certainly not because America is fulfilling her divine destiny by expansionism. 

A Greenlandic member of parliament told POLITICO a protest was planned for Vance’s arrival. | Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images

"When foreign dignitaries travel to our country on what are called private visits, it rightly causes concern."

"There is no reason to panic. But there is good reason to stand together and to demand respect."

"I do. And I will continue to do so."

Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Demokraatit, next Greenlandic leader

 

"A lot people from Greenland [would] like to see something happen with respect to their being properly protected and properly taken care of."

"They're calling us. We're not calling them."

"People from Greenland are asking us to go there. [And] some officials [were among those doing so."

U.S. President Donald J. Trump

Hamas Operatives in Europe

"[Danish police had] a special focus [on Jewish institutions. Denmark was not changing its terror threat level, which has been at "serious" the second-highest level, since 2010]."

"Persons abroad have been charged... It is a serious situation. [The arrests were carried out in] collaboration with our foreign partners; [those arrested were part of] a network."

Flemming Drejer, operative head, Denmark's Security and Intelligence Service

 

"This is extremely serious." 

"It is of course completely unacceptable in relation to Israel and Gaza, that there is someone who takes a conflict somewhere else in the world into Danish society."

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen

A police officer stands in front of the court in Frederiksberg, Denmark, after police conducted an operation that resulted in three people being arrested in the country who were to be charged with violating terrorism laws, Dec. 14, 2023. Ritzau Scanpix/Emil Nicolai Helms/REUTERS

 

The four detained in Germany were identified as Abdelhamid Al A., born in Lebanon; Egyptian national Mohamed B.; Dutch national Nazih R. and Ibrahim El-R., born in Lebanon. Three of the men "have been longstanding members of Hamas and have participated in Hamas operations abroad." The suspects were "closely linked to the military branch's leadership" of Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by the European Union.

 

According to German authorities, three people have been arrested on suspicion of preparing to attack Jewish institutions in Europe. One person was arrested in the Netherlands, but whether there were ties to the Hamas investigation is yet unclear. Two people being held in Denmark were ordered to pretrial detention until January 9. They were identified by Danish media as a man in his 50s and a 19-year-old woman.

 

Police raided six locations in Berlin as part of the operation   Getty Images

The arrests of the three on suspicion of plotting to carry out "an act of terror" was announced by Danish intelligence agency PET. One individual identified by Danish media is a 29-year-old man released after a night-long custody hearing in Copenhagen. Prosecutor Anders Larssen stated four other people were held in "pretrial custody in absentia", without mentioning whether authorities knew their whereabouts much less if an active search was underway. There remained "still someone at large", he said.

 

The custody hearing was held behind "double closed doors"; no details were made available on the case, shrouded in secrecy, while a court order shields the suspects from identification.The three men detained in Germany Thursday had been tasked with finding a previously set-up underground Hamas weapons cache in Europe.

 

"The weapons were due to be taken to Berlin and kept in a state of readiness in view of potential terrorist attacks against Jewish institutions in Europe", explained German prosecutors who allege the suspects "have been long-standing members of Hamas and have participated in Hamas operations abroad".

A judge on Friday ordered the three suspects detained in Berlin held in custody pending a possible indictment as members of a foreign terrorist organization. German Justice Minister, Marco Buschmann, thanked authorities for the "successful investigation" which has "contributed to ensuring that Jews in Europe can continue to live in safety and peace."

"Following the terrible attacks by Hamas on the Israeli population, attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions have also increased in our country in recent weeks. This is shameful and shocking."

"We must therefore do everything we can to ensure that Jews in our country do not have to fear for their safety again. And our security and law enforcement authorities are working flat out to achieve this."

German Justice Minister, Marco Buschmann

A police van outside Germany's parliament.  Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Russia, Respecting The Rule of Law/Arctic Council Chairmanship 2021-2023

"A cross-cutting priority of the Russian Chairmanship in the Arctic Council will be "Responsible Governance for Sustainable Arctic" through promoting collective approaches to the sustainable development of the Arctic, environmentally, socially and economically balanced, enhancing synergy and cooperation and coordination with other regional structures, as well as implementation of the Council's Strategic Plan, while respecting the rule of law."

"The Russian Chairmanship will continue supporting the establishment of the Arctic Council as the leading format for international Arctic cooperation, improving its work, increasing the effectiveness of its Working and Expert groups, the Secretariat, as well as developing mechanisms for financing the Council's activities, including its projects and programs, implementing decisions and recommendations, as well as encouraging the dialogue and interaction with the Observers to provide their meaningful and balanced engagement in the Council’s activities. It intends to further intensify collaboration of the Arctic Council with the Arctic Economic Council, the Arctic Coast Guard Forum, the University of the Arctic. Among the priorities of the Russian Chairmanship – promoting international scientific cooperation, in particular, exploring the possibility to conduct an Arctic Council scientific expedition to the Arctic Ocean."

His Excellency Lavrov Sergey Viktorovich   Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation

Sea ice in the Arctic  Roscongress

"The hopes for cooperation with Russia in the Arctic continue to cool. Days after a U.S. diplomat stated that cooperation with Russia in the Arctic was now virtually impossible, the Kremlin published amendments to its Arctic policy. President Putin signed the decree earlier this week on 21 February 2023. "

"The updated document places greater emphasis on Russian national interests in the region and removes specific mentions for cooperation within the Arctic Council."

"While the original policy, published in March 2020, called for the “strengthening of good neighborly relations with the Arctic states” in the fields of economic, scientific, cultural and cross-border cooperation the amended version removes the above section and instead calls for the “development of relations with foreign states on a bilateral basis, […] taking into account the national interests of the Russian Federation in the Arctic”."

High North News

President Putin discusses expansion of Russia’s territorial claims with the permanent members of the Security Council. (Source: Kremlin)

 

The eight Arctic states that comprise the Arctic Council are Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Russia, Denmark, Canada and the United States. All these states in collaboration and agreement have produced binding agreements focused on preservation and environmental protection. The council represents a rare platform that gives a voice to the region's Indigenous peoples. Security interests are not part of the Council's agenda,

 

The Arctic Council for close on three decades has been an example of successful post-Cold War cooperation. Its members have seen common purpose in cooperating on climate-change research and social development in recognition that this is an ecologically sensitive region of the world and currently undergoing vast environmental transformation linked to Climate Change. 

 

All that has changed. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine other council members were estranged from Russia as a rebuke of its imposition of war on its neighbour, and stopped working with their Russian counterpart. Norway now prepares to assume the Council chairmanship from Moscow, on May 11. Leaving experts to ask whether the viability of the polar body itself is at risk reflecting its inability to cooperate with the very country that controls over half of the Arctic coastline.

 

There could be dire future implications for the region's environment and its four million inhabitants who face the effects of melting sea ice and the interest of non-Arctic countries in the region's untapped mineral resources in the face of an ineffective Arctic Council. With the end of cooperation with Moscow a third of the council's 130 projects cannot move forward, new projects cannot proceed, existing projects cannot be renewed.

 

Arctic Council Meeting

No longer do Western and Russian scientists share climate-change findings. Cooperation for possible search-and-rescue missions or oil spills has come to an end. "I am worried that this will really hobble the ability of the Arctic Council to work through these various issues", stated US. Senator Angus King. Polar waters are opening to shipping as sea ice vanishes. The Arctic is known to be warming four times faster than the rest of the world.

 

Industries are eager to exploit the region's endowment of natural resources that include oil, gas and metals like gold, iron and rare earths. An effective response to changes and the vital issues that loom are less likely given discord between Russia and the other members of the Arctic Council. "Norway has a big challenge. That's how to rescue as much as possible of the Arctic Council's good work in the absence of Russia", pointed out John Holdren, co-director of the Harvard Kennedy School's Arctic initiative.

 

For its part, Russia points out that the work cannot continue without its cooperation. Nikolay Korchunov, Russian Arctic Ambassador,  said he was not confident it "will be able to remain the main platform on Arctic issues, given that the council has become weak". There is the possibility that Russia may decide that issues affecting the region must be addressed with Russian interests only in mind. Or that it may establish a separate Russia-centric rival council.

 

China warmly welcomes Putin’s state visit in 2018. After the conversation between Xi Jinping and Putin, China and Russia reached a consensus on deepening bilateral cooperation and signed a series of cooperation agreements. Photo: Presidential Press and Information Office

Russia has recently taken steps to expand cooperation in the Arctic with non-Arctic states; signing a memorandum for example with China, establishing cooperation between the two countries' coast guards in the Arctic. China's interests in the Arctic revolve around shipping and investing in ore extraction, particularly rare earth minerals. Russian Arctic Ambassador Korchunov pointed out Moscow's welcome of non-Arctic states in the region. With the proviso they not arrive with a military agenda.

 

And this is yet another area where Russia has distinguished itself, long before its invasion of Ukraine occurred. It has rebuilt or refurbished old Soviet military bases on its Arctic shorelines and islands that form part of Russian territory. It is Russia under Vladimir Putin that has militarized the Arctic, a condition it wants no other country to emulate.

 

Arctic Sovereignty Rivalry

"All of the countries involved [Arctic nations] recognize that there will have to be boundary negotiations at some future point."
"Why bother spending hundreds of millions of dollars mapping the seabed in an area you know will fall to the other country at the conclusion of negotiations?"
"Our scientific claim might be valid. The North Pole is on the Danish side of an equidistance line."
Michael Byers, professor of international law, University of British Columbia

"It [Canada's scientific argument of Arctic sovereignty] totally validates it [Canada's claim to an extended Arctic area]. If you actually have a look at what has been submitted, it is a substantial chunk."
"You had to determine you had a continental shelf. That was the first and necessary step. If we'd only gone up to the North Pole, to a very large degree we would be ceding everything the Russians and Danes were putting within their claims."
"It doesn't mean you're going to get everything you want, but now it becomes much more possible."
Rob Huebert, Arctic expert, University of Calgary

"I'm pleased Canada has done this work."
"Defining and asserting Canadian sovereignty takes many forms. Inuit know this as we have been used to assert Canadian sovereignty historically."
Monica Ell-Kanayuk, Inuit Circumpolar Conference

Lake Hazen on Ellesmere Island in Nunavut.  Igor Lehnherr/The Canadian Press

The UN Commission on Limits of the Continental Shelf has its work cut out in studying and verifying the science-and-geography-based claims to sovereign areas of the vast Arctic, submitted for its perusal and affirmation by Canada, the United States, Russia, Denmark (Greenland), Sweden, Iceland, Finland and Norway. Once the Commission has completed its work, negotiation between the Arctic nations will commence, the expectation being that of years passing before firm boundaries are set.

Canada has just now completed a $100-million scientific survey, its submission to the Commission years later than anticipated because then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper ordered a re-write under the condition that Canada's submission merited a much larger area to be claimed. The submission just handed to the Commission on Limits of the Continental Shelf represented 1,200 pages of evidence proving the continental shelf from the High Arctic islands extends past 200 nautical miles from shore.



A contested section of sea floor stretching from the top of Ellesmere Island to the Pole along an undersea ridge, passing it by over 200 kilometers is contested by Russia, which claims the very same undersea ridge actually originates in Russia. The Lomonosov Ridge has long been claimed by Russia to begin in Siberia and stretch to the North Pole, hence marking it as Russian territory, part of its continental shelf. All the sea floor alongside the ridge from the coast of Russia to past the Pole.

Denmark, on the other hand, contests that claim, both by Russia and by Canada, claiming the ridge is linked with Greenland, making it Denmark's territory, right up to Russian territorial waters. Professors Byers and Huebert speak of negotiations to come that will be based on the principle of equidistance more than undersea geography. The principle whereby a maritime boundary is drawn along a line equidistant from the shores of neighbouring nations.

Professor Huebert cites the research as proof of a need for the Arctic nations to indulge in critical negotiations to reach reasonable concessions, while Dr. Byers points out the equidistance principle is more likely to give the Pole to the Danes which Canada's submission acknowledges tacitly, since Canada's claim stops partway along the ridge.

Canada consulted widely with its Inuit population, as the people who actually live in the Arctic. And the submission handed to the Commission had the full approval of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference.

© RIA Novosti. G. Nadezhdin

Danish Migrant Backlash

"I've become a racist. Just kick them [migrants] out. These Muslims want to keep their own culture, but we have our own rules here and everyone must follow them."
Johnny Christensen, 65, retired bank employee, Taarnby, Denmark

"[Many Danes believe] We are a multiethnic society today, and we have to realize it -- but we are not and should never become a multi-cultural society."
Bo Lidegaard, historian

"Our problem in Denmark is that we've been too polite. No one dared talk about [immigration] because they were afraid they'd be called racist."
Anders Buhl-Christensen, city councilman, Randers, Denmark

"It's not racism to be aware of the difference -- it's stupid not to be aware."
"We do them a blessing by being very clear and outspoken as to what kind of country they have come to, what are our basic values."
Bertel Haarder, Culture Minister, Denmark

"Freedom of speech is now interpreted as freedom to say anything hateful."
"Denmark is closing in on itself. People are retreating inward."
Julie Jeeg, law student volunteer with a Danish antiracism group

Photograph by Ilvy Njiokikthen for The New York Times

A Randers day care center back in January no longer served pork meatballs in the realization that its Muslim students would reject them. When this came to public notice the town council reacted by requiring that pork be served "on equal terms with other kinds of food", in a bit of a push-back against the kind of accommodation that was recognized as getting that steel-toed foot in the door to open it wider to additional accommodations having the ultimate effect of diluting the familiar in Denmark.

Frank Noergaard of the Danish People's Party who had introduced the measure, portrayed himself as livid that "pork could be abandoned in Denmark. If you give in on pork, what's next?", he raged. Of course, two kinds of meatballs could have been proffered in this situation; students whose religion did not prohibit the eating of pork could indulge in the pork meatballs, while meatballs of beef or fowl could appeal to the Muslim students. That, in and of itself could become more complex with the concomitant demand that the meat used for Muslim students must be halal.

The Immigration Ministry of the country has made an attempt to stifle pushback in the general population, a situation it has named as "parallel societies" where migrants live in "vicious circles of bad image, social problems and a high rate of unemployment". That effectively describes the French banlieues, and in effect almost anywhere in Europe where Muslims arrive in numbers and tend to house themselves in ghettos.

There are, however, always Muslims who will defy the majority rule, who make an effort to fit into the prevailing culture, just as 34-year-old Iraqi engineer Omar Mahmoud has done, with his family, living in a Randers refugee center and attempting to 'fit in'. Attending Danish classes, encouraging their children to make friends with Danish children, and not opposing the eating of pork for them since it is a staple of the Danish diet, however forbidden in Islam.

Generally speaking, this attitude is not necessarily the prevailing one among the 36,000 Muslim asylum seekers who have entered Denmark in the last two years. Mr. Christensen, the retired bank employee, is convinced that migrants are not adapting to the country's customs, while taking full advantage of Denmark's social-welfare system. From a man once sympathetic to immigration and aiding war refugees, he has become a committed critic of asylum offering specifically to Muslims.

Where once tiny Denmark with its 5.7 million population was 97 percent native-born, with the influx of "guest workers" from Turkey, Pakistan and Yugoslavia in the 1970s, that number has dropped to 88 percent indigenous Danes. More recently, a rapid wholesale influx of haven seekers has seen hate speech enhanced in the country, with the anti-immigrant Danish People's Party becoming Parliament's second most representative.

The anti-immigrant reaction is attributable to several issues; fears of terrorism from Islamist jihadis and a drain on Denmark's public benefits. Not that a latent racial bias recently surfacing can be entirely discounted at the entrance of non-Danish demographics at a time when Europe has been overrun with war refugees and economic migrants. Denmark's situation pales beside Germany's acceptance of a million migrants, but it still rankles mightily that their culture is being degraded.

When five thousand Poles and three thousand, three hundred Americans, along with other Westerners emigrated in 2014 to Denmark, there were no demurs at their presence. Westerners are, after all, readily assimilable, featuring similar backgrounds and cultures, as opposed to people entering with all the baggage of a culture and a religion that has proven time and again to be inimical to integration into the prevalent heritage, culture and justice system.

The 15,000 Syrians who arrived in the past several years have, according to their critics, been tardy in learning the language. Danes resent ethnic enclaves. Some 30 percent of new immigrants arrived to the two larges Danish cities, Aarhus and Copenhagen, where men wearing prayer caps and women in abayas become extremely visible. In comparison with employment of 74 percent of native Danes, 48 percent of non-Western-origined people aged 15 to 64 were employed in 2014.

Denmark's Culture minister, Bertel Haarder, observed that Muslims fail to assimilate as readily as Europeans or Asians since their patriarchal culture does not promote women working outside the home. "For a lot of people, being Danish is in your blood, so I will never be Danish", said 28-year-old Danish citizen Patricia Bandak, who arrived in Denmark as a baby from Uganda, in 1989. "I call myself a Dane of a different colour."

Perspective

"The massive migration and stream of refugees now coming to Europe and Denmark are of a magnitude that challenges the fundamental premises of our society in the near future... According to our analysis, the stark economic consequences of the current number of refugees and immigrants will consume all room for maneuver in public finance within a few years. Non-Western immigrants have historically been difficult to integrate into the labor market; the same applies to the Syrians that are now arriving. The more, the harder, the more expensive... Finally, it is our analysis that given our previous experience with integrating non-Western people into our society, we are facing a social catastrophe when it comes to handling many tens of thousands that are soon to be channeled into society. Every bit of progress in terms of integration will be put back to zero. ... Therefore our conclusion is clear: We will do all we can to limit the number of non-Western refugees and immigrants coming to the country. That is why we have gone far -- and much farther than we had dreamed of going... We are doing this because we will not sacrifice our welfare society in the name of humanitarianism. For the welfare society ... is the political project of the Social Democratic Party. It is a society built on the principles of liberty, equality and solidarity. Mass immigration -- as we have seen in, for example, Sweden -- will undermine ... our welfare society."                                                                              Henrik Sass Larsen MP, leader, Social Democratic parliamentary group, Denmark

A group of migrants, mainly from Syria, walk along a highway in Denmark on Monday. They intend to reach Sweden and seek asylum there. SCANPIX DENMARK / REUTERS

In the past six months, states the Danish-Swedish website Snaphanen, buildings which were planned to house asylum seekers have on forty occasions been burned to the ground. No one was hurt in these events, yet alone killed, but a message not so mysterious was delivered and received. No one held to be guilty of sending these messages has been detected, and nor has any one individual or identifiable group claimed responsibility, despite their obvious organization.

Danish demographers have recognized the impending reality, that third-world immigrants and their offspring, whether having achieved citizenship or not, will eventually become the majority in the population of Denmark some time before this century's end. Many, if not most of this majority will be Muslim. Moreover, well before mid-century, the Muslim-Danish aggregate will be sufficiently large to have altered the composition and character of Denmark.

Why should the Danes go uncomplainingly, and gently into that societal-cultural black curtain that spells the last act of their own heritage? Perhaps because it is too late to do anything much about what now looms as an inevitability. Perhaps because it goes against the Danish temperament and character to deny their own sacrifice to enrich the lives of others. Not that there hasn't been lash-back from among the population of late.

And not that Swedes, observing their own level of generosity to the hordes of Syrian refugees flooding Europe, celebrate their open-handedness while deploring the closed-fist approach of a neighbour with whom they had shared a geography and heritage which now distances itself from both. Sweden's open welcome to any and all asylum-seekers will see its own culture and heritage transformed beyond recognition.

And in Denmark, a bit of resentment against the impossible situation the country has been forced into by its own nature and by events beyond its capacity to control, has arisen. Denmark has published advertisements in Lebanese newspapers warning any who might consider seeking asylum in Denmark, not to bother coming; Denmark will turn them out, simply because its population has become too threateningly diluted.

"The bill ... provides the Danish authorities with the power to search clothes and luggage of asylum seekers -- and other migrants without a permit to stay in Denmark -- with a view to finding assets which may cover the expenses [of settlement]", advised Mia Tang, press spokeswoman for the Danish Ministry of Integration. "[Too many refugees] put pressure on the Danish society and make it more difficult to ensure a successful integration of those who come to Denmark."

She refers to a new law being considered, permitting authorities to confiscate jewellery from refugees who enter Denmark. Refugees already in Denmark would also be affected if the bill passes. Valuables and cash excessive to people's actual needs could be seized by police, under this law. "The new rule on seizure will only apply to assets of a considerable value", according to the Integration Ministry.

Foreigners  would "keep assets which are necessary to maintain a modest standard of living such as watches and mobile phones. Furthermore, assets which have a certain personal sentimental value to a foreigner will not, as a main rule, be seized unless they have [considerable] value." Well certainly this initiative will help Denmark to pay for settling/accommodating the presence of refugees/migrants, feeding them, teaching a new language.

Will it be enough to dissuade new aspirants from trending to Denmark, though?

Terror Strikes Copenhagen "It Is the Danes' Fault" by Lars Hedegaard February 20, 2015 at 5:00 am http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5239/terror-copenhagen The first question the Danish Prime Minister got from one of the journalists, was, "How do you think this is going to affect the Muslims in Denmark? None of the journalists asked, "What are you going to do to protect us from this Islamist savagery?" Imam Hajj Saeed of the Al-Faruq Mosque in Copenhagen, the day before the terror attack, rejected any thought of interfaith dialogue, and noted that the Prophet Muhammad waged war against his Jewish neighbors rather than engage in dialogue. The day after the shootings, the political spokesperson of the main liberal opposition party went on television and said, "We are dealing with a small group that is abusing the Koran." In other words, once again we are faced with one or more Muslims who have completely misunderstood their own religion. The implication, of course is that Danes have nothing to fear from the fast growing number of Muslims or the spread of Islam. It would appear, however, that the killer, Omar el-Hussein, had not "abused" anything but simply followed Allah and his prophet. "It is vital that we as Muslims do not distance ourselves [from el-Hussein's actions] but put things in their right context. It is the Danish politicians and media that ought to distance themselves from the politics that have created the circumstances that lead to hatred, threats and violent attacks and eventually murder, regardless of who the victims may be. We must under no circumstances bow to the pressure or accept the premise that Islam is in the dock." — From a press release issued by Junes Kock, spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir, Scandinavia. In all likelihood, the politicians and the media will continue telling the Danes that they have nothing to fear from Islam. It did not take many hours after last weekend's two fatal terrorist attacks in the Danish capital before the usual phalanx of apologists of Islamism went into action. Shortly after 3pm on Saturday, when 22-year-old Omar Abdel Hamid el-Hussein had shot and killed one of the guests attending a discussion on free speech at the Krudttønden cultural institute in Copenhagen's Østerbro neighborhood, Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt arrived at the scene to express her sympathy with the families of the victim and the policemen who had been wounded in the firefight with el-Hussein. She also stressed the need for national unity in this time of horror. The discussion that came under attack was attended by the Swedish artist Lars Vilks -- famous for his drawing of Muhammad as a roundabout dog, and probably the intended target -- and the French ambassador. The first question Thorning-Schmidt got from one of the journalists was, "How do you think this is going to affect Muslims in Denmark?" None of the journalists asked, "What are you going to do to protect us from Islamist savagery?" Or, "How can you allow the current mass influx of Muslims when we have so obviously been unable to integrate those already here?" These questions are now being asked by a growing number of ordinary Danes, for example in social media; but so far no politician of any note has acknowledged any connection between terror, immigration, the build-up of Muslim parallel communities and Islam. This lapse is despite the fact that el-Hussein had been heard shouting in Arabic as he emptied his automatic weapon into a glass door leading into Krudttønden, after shooting dead 55-year-old film director Finn Nørgaard, who had been standing outside. El-Hussein managed to flee, and several hours later -- shortly before 1am Sunday -- he turned up outside the synagogue in Krystalgade in Central Copenhagen. In front of the synagogue were the Jewish community's volunteer guard, 37-year-old Dan Uzan, and two policemen who were protecting a bat mitzvah party taking place in a building behind the synagogue. El-Hussein managed to get close to the fence in front of the synagogue by playing drunk, then shot dead Dan Uzan and wounded the two policemen, whose automatic weapons did not function. By then, the police knew his identity; he was killed some hours later outside a building in the heavily Muslim area of Nørrebro, after opening fire on the police. Two suspected accomplices, aged 19 and 22, were arrested shortly afterwards and are now in jail awaiting trial. No mention of Islam After Omar el-Hussein's two shooting sprees, it should have been perfectly clear to politicians that Denmark was facing religiously motivated terror and that, just as in Paris, it was directed at free speech and the Jewish community. Nevertheless, none of them -- whether from the government or the opposition -- saw fit to mention Islam as a motivating factor. Rather, everyone went out of his way to stress the need for unity among all religions. The leader of the Jewish Faith Community (Mosaisk Troessamfund), Dan Rosenberg Asmussen, emphasized the need for "Muslims, Christians and Jews" to stand together in this time of adversity. Rosenberg Asmussen would have been disappointed if he had heard what Imam Hajj Saeed of the Al-Faruq Mosque in Copenhagen told his flock on February 13, the day before the terror attacks: Imam Saeed rejected any thought of interfaith dialogue and noted that the Prophet Muhammad waged war against his Jewish neighbors rather than engage in dialogue. The day after the shootings, a spokesperson of the main liberal opposition party (Venstre), MP Inger Støjberg, went on television and said, "Let me be quite clear: We are dealing with a small group that is abusing the Koran." In other words, once again we are faced with one or more Muslims who have completely misunderstood their own religion. The implication, of course, is that Danes have nothing to fear from the fast-growing number of Muslims and the spread of Islam. Curiously, the killer, Omar el-Hussein made no bones about the fact he acted in accordance with Islamic teachings. At 3:24 pm Saturday, nine minutes before his attack at Krudttønden, he posted the following comment on Facebook: "I follow Abu Bakr obediently and humbly in bad times as well as good and will not disobey the orders I have been given unless I witness open unbelief." The Facebook message was revealed by the national daily, B.T., which had it translated from Arabic to Danish. The paper assumes that "Abu Bakr" refers to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed caliph of the Islamic State. A little earlier, at 3:01 pm the same day, el-Hussein had quoted the Koran (sura 59, verse 2) on his Facebook page: "It is He who expelled the ones who disbelieved among the People of the Book [Jews and Christians] from their homes at the first gathering. You did not think they would leave, and they thought that their fortresses would protect them from Allah; but Allah came upon them from where they had not expected, and He cast terror into their hearts [so] they destroyed their houses by their hands and the hands of the believers. So take warning, O people of vision." It would appear that Omar el-Hussein had not "abused" anything but simply followed Allah and his prophet. A small group? How did MP Inger Støjberg, and other politicians who have been saying the same things, know that Danes are up against "a small group"? It turns out, in fact, that Omar el-Hussein and his accomplices have quite a fan club in and around the Muslim settlement area of Nørrebro in Copenhagen, as demonstrated by this French video published by the blog Gates of Vienna, with English subtitles. Danish television has also interviewed other young Muslims who expressed support for el-Hussein and openly declared that people who dare criticize the prophet -- as, in this case, Swedish artist Lars Vilks -- must be killed. Danish and French television crews had no problem finding Muslims on the streets of Copenhagen who supported and praised terrorist Omar el-Hussein and his actions, along with many flower bouquets marking a memorial on the street where el-Hussein was killed in a shoot-out with police. Further, the radical Muslim organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, which can regularly muster more than a thousand supporters for its demonstrations in Copenhagen, refuses to condemn the weekend's terror. A press release issued by the organization's spokesman for Scandinavia, Junes Kock, states: "It is vital that we as Muslims do not distance ourselves [from el-Hussein's actions] but put things in their right context. It is the Danish politicians and media that ought to distance themselves from the politics that have created the circumstances that lead to hatred, threats, violent attacks and eventually murder, regardless of who the victims may be. We as a Muslim community must under no circumstances bow to the pressure or accept the premise that Islam is in the dock." It appears that Hizb ut-Tahrir can rest assured that Islam will not be put in the dock. In all likelihood, politicians and the media will continue telling the Danes that they have nothing to fear from Islam. The question is, will ordinary Danes continue to believe them?

Imam Saeed Hajj rejects interfaith dialogue. PHOTO: MEMRI TV

On Eve of Synagogue Attack in Denmark, Copenhagen Imam Incited Against Jews

During a Friday, February 13 sermon – one day before the weekend’s terror attacks in Copenhagen – Hajj Saeed, the Imam of the Al-Faruq Mosque in the city, rejected interfaith dialogue with Jews, watchdog MEMRI TV reported, publishing footage of the lecture.

From his pulpit, Saeed called interfaith dialogue a “malignant idea,” and claimed that, “the people responsible for interfaith dialogue want to make all religions equal. [By doing so] they want to equate Truth with Falsehood. Between heresy and deception, between the religion of the Prophet Muhammad and man-made laws, legislated by these criminals in order to rule the world.”

Behind Saeed hung a black flag, commonly associated with the Islamist extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, an international pan-Islamic political organization with the goal of uniting all Muslim countries under the aegis of an Islamic State. His sermon was posted on the internet by the group’s Scandinavian chapter.

Regarding Jews specifically, Saeed said that the Prophet Mohammad had Jewish neighbors in Medina, but instead of trying to call for reconciliation with them, “in the manner of…those who call to reconcile Truth with Falsehood,” he called them to accept Islam. And when they rejected his call to Islam, “he waged war against the Jews.”

He echoed Hizb ut-Tahrir’s line that, “all people are called to convert to Islam.” Those refusing to do so, “after having been presented with clear evidence,” are to be considered heretics and infidels, and there are religious laws governing how to deal with such people, particularly when living in their countries. “The so-called interfaith dialogue is not part of these laws,” he said, instead noting that there should be “an ideological conflict to refute their arguments of Falsehood.”

Saeed also rejected UN aid for Muslim communities, saying, “Do we…want the United Nations to create charity projects for us? The United Nations and its predecessors of the league of nations were created in order to fight Islam, to destroy the State of Islam, and to draw Muslims away from their religion.”

Saeed’s speech was a sharp contrast from the sermon given in January by Imam Tareq Yousef Al-Masri, of the Oulel-Albab Mosque in Brooklyn, New York. In his sermon, Imam Al-Masri advocated for tolerance and acceptance towards non-Muslims.