Russia Conquers the North Pole!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6927395.stm

Quote:

Russian explorers have planted their country's flag on the seabed 4,200m (14,000ft) below the North Pole to further Moscow's claims to the Arctic.

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Canada, which also claims territory in the Arctic, has criticised the mission.

"This isn't the 15th Century," Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay told the CTV channel.

"You can't go around the world and just plant flags and say 'We're claiming this territory'," he said.

Melting polar ice has led to competing claims over access to Arctic resources.

Russia's claim to a vast swathe of territory in the Arctic, thought to contain oil, gas and mineral reserves, has been challenged by several other powers, including the US.

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Russian media reported last week that the ships were briefly tailed by foreign aircraft, but this claim was played down by the expedition leader.

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"This may sound grandiloquent but for me this is like placing a flag on the moon, this is really a massive scientific achievement," Sergei Balyasnikov, a spokesman for Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Institute, told Reuters news agency.

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President Vladimir Putin has already described the urgent need for Russia to secure its "strategic, economic, scientific and defence interests" in the Arctic.

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Several countries with territories bordering the Arctic - including Russia, the US, Canada and Denmark - have launched competing claims to the region.

The competition has intensified as melting polar ice caps have opened up the possibility of new shipping routes in the region.

YouTube Video

I wonder how Russia intends to combat The Sub-Mariner?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

This is gonna be the trouble about Hans Island (You know, the island Denmark and Canada 'fights' over) times 911. Perhaps.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I claim the Gamingforce Interactive Forums! |>

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Russia rocks now. Soon they'll be planting flags on poor countries because they know those countries can't do anything against Mother Russia.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?