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[smithy]

Here's an interesting little story I spotted in the Telegraph. What with the Arctic icecaps melting, there is easier access by sea to that area. The area is rich in oil, so of it's interest to everyone.

Not least to Canada, which has begun military patrols of the area and has landed troops on a small island disputed with Greenland.

The Canadian defence minister also came out with a fantastic oxymoron:

"The sea is a highway that's open to everyone. We will allow everybody passage as long as they ask for our consent and comply with our rules: [...]"

[Dan]

Better to try to claim uninhabited land than just take any land that has oil regardless...

smithy wrote:
The Canadian defence minister also came out with a fantastic oxymoron:

Not an oxymoron at all! It´s open to everybody as long as they behave. Just like landbased highways :-P

But this is hilarious:

The military, meanwhile, is not ideally equipped for the brutal conditions of the far north. Although it is expanding its Arctic command base at Yellowknife, the navy lacks sufficient capacity to plough through the pack ice.

So all these years the Canadians have expected the enemy to come from the south.....

[FluffyMcDeath]

smithy wrote:

So all these years the Canadians have expected the enemy to come from the south.....

Yup. And, historically speaking, that's where they have always come from.

[cecilia]

there's already a word for you to use: Sassenach
:-P

[Glaucus]

smithy wrote:
The Canadian defence minister also came out with a fantastic oxymoron:

What's so funny about that? I think that's normal for coastal waters. We've had many problems with Portugese fishing boats fishing within our costal waters while impossing a fishing ban on our own fleets. Also, I believe that quote was in reference to the Northwest Passage, which is a major shipping lane.

- Mike

[aardvark]

[aardvark]

Also, I believe that quote was in reference to the Northwest Passage, which is a major shipping lane.

Hardly, only a handful of ships have ever made it through, but that could change with the Arctic ice melrting at a rapid rate. :-(

[Glaucus]

aardvark wrote:

Hardly, only a handful of ships have ever made it through, but that could change with the Arctic ice melrting at a rapid rate. :-(

Yep, you're right, and what the heck was I thinking when I said that?!? Probably the passage to Hudson Bay, where we have a port called Churchill.

Anyway, here's an interesting link: Wikipedia: Northwest Passage

- Mike

[whabang]

Number of times invaded by Denmark- A few maybe, but the lawyers will have to sort that one out

Well, there were once a pleople called "Vikings". :-D

[Dan]

whabang wrote:

Well, there were once a pleople called "Vikings". :-D

So they better add Iceland, Sweden and Norway just in case :-P