Showing posts with label Arctic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arctic. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 07, 2012

Drilling in the Arctic is a Shell game

Grounding of drill ship in Alaska narrowly avoided
BP and Shell "Chevron" racing to destroy the Arctic

Chevron fire and explosion bringing dangerous pollution Pretty dramatic pictures coming from California!

From the Sierra club: It's a shell game

Dear James,



Shell Oil is supposed to start drilling in the Polar Bear Seas of America's Arctic in a matter of weeks.

But over the last two weeks, Shell has fessed up that they can't meet the air pollution reductions they agreed to, the Coast Guard found Shell's clean-up barge inadequate, and this weekend a Shell drill ship came dangerously close to running aground on its way to the Arctic.

Tell the Obama administration not to ignore such obvious warning signs. It's more apparent than ever that we can't trust Shell to drill safely in the Polar Bear Seas.

Shell has been trying for months to get approval to drill in the Arctic this summer. To get the permits, Shell made promises about the kinds of equipment they would use to reduce air pollution and clean up a potential spill. But now, with just a few days left before they want to start drilling, they've admitted that their equipment isn't up to par – and they have no way to fix it before they start drilling.

We've been telling the Obama administration for months that Shell can't be trusted in the Arctic. The administration needs to hear your voice now more than ever.

Just this weekend, a Shell drill ship headed to the Polar Bear Seas almost ran aground while moored in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. 35 mph winds pushed the vessel within feet of the shore. What would happen if the ship met the gale-force winds and 25-foot waves of the Polar Bear Seas?

Shell is still trying to convince government agencies that what they have is good enough, even though it's not what they agreed on – and it's clear that Shell is not ready for a disaster. Shell wants us to trust them.

Do you trust Shell? Me neither. And the Obama administration shouldn't either.

Tell the Obama administration that we can't afford to just trust Shell.

Thank you for everything you do for our environment,

Dan Ritzman
Sierra Club Arctic Campaign Director

P.S. Forward this this email to your friends, family and colleagues -- or share it on Facebook and Twitter:

Thursday, July 19, 2012

BP calls for cautious move into arctic: BP?



Oil companies need to address local, national and global concerns before moving ahead with offshore arctic development, a BP official said in Norway. Warmer average global temperatures are melting arctic sea ice and glaciers, exposing vast areas that could hold oil and natural gas reserves.

Daly said there is a notable dilemma, however, as environmental voices grow louder while energy demand increases. "This will require a level of openness and transparency that our industry has not achieved so far," he said. "It will challenge beliefs around information and transparency to the very core of our companies."
Our BP is saying this?

BP is moving forward drilling in the Arctic with a Russian company "disastrous" plus Shell working on US okay. Carefully? That Russian company has a worse record than BP if you can believe that. Chevron isn't much better. The only way to proceed safely is to "stay out"

BP is still going to be drilling in the Arctic but now with a Russian company with a more disastrous record plus Shell is also still going forward. What a frigging nightmare! Read the story at the link and Shell is filling us with the same crap that BP did. They can handle it, it's safe, my rear!

“Although Greenland last year refused drilling concessions to BP because it lacked rigorous enough safety protocols, BP appears to have found a more willing back door to the pristine Arctic environment via the Russian firm Rosneft,” said Ivan Blokov, Campaign Director, Greenpeace Russia."Given that in 2009 alone, Rosneft had 12,000 pipeline breaks, 7526 of which resulted in oil leaks, it would be an understatement to say we are concerned about these two companies operating together in Arctic.” This is scary stuff! Man this is still too close to home and a disaster in the making. They are destroying our frigging world at an ever increasing rate.

Remember when the still "ongoing" Mexico Gulf disaster was going on? Look what they were going to do for us. A Russian company doing this scares the hell out of me. The U.S. Government confirmed the drilling “pause” does not apply to BP’s new project, called Liberty. BP is going to build a small 5 acre island and drill down 2 miles before drilling 6 to 8 miles sideways in another never before done scheme? No way, come on! This boondoggle is still scheduled to go ahead despite their terrible record of so called accidents and disregard for following common sense? despite that blow out valves fail 40% of the time?"

.On May 25, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) August 2011 decision to permit Shell to drill in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off Alaska’s north shore.

“The deep-water moratorium we had in place did not apply to this particular project, which would have been based from a man-made island and would have potentially been drilling directionally into formations under shallow water. If drilling permit applications were submitted for the project, the Department of the Interior would have reviewed them at the appropriate time and determine, based on safety and other considerations, whether the project should move forward with drilling under federal waters,” said Kendra Barkoff, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of the Interior. What the hell is wrong with us to even to think of this? Our desperation is grotesquely misplaced!

So they’re really going to even consider a project as complicated as this one involving a drill down two miles, then turn and bore another six to eight miles more to get to oil on Federally owned land. BP? They can not be stupid enough to trust them in the country let alone drilling more precariously than the disaster they just created. Proceed safely? Think of the environment first?

Someone better hit the stop button! Remember Bush and Cheney's secret White House meetings with the so called energy czars? Remember, the rest of the world by law must use an acoustic valve in case of emergency that would have prevented this. Since oil ran this country Bush and Cheney decided at 1/2 million per valve it was too expensive for oil companies as profit and cutting corners was their only goal not the people and the environment. All inspections of drilling and platforms stopped in 2001. Obama's mistake was not re instituting them instantly but he better do it before he lets those idiots drill in the Arctic.

Remember where life began! We have allowed BP to unleash a volcano of death in the bottom of our chain of life killing life in the ocean that gave life to us. We can not let them add the Arctic to their list of nightmares. Our planet is shrinking. The planet is one life system and everything is interconnected, everything affected by everything else eventually. As I taught my kids, the ocean is like a giant washing machine. What goes around eventually comes around. Why can't people ever look at the big picture, see the big picture, or think of the repercussions of their actions before they act? Engage brain before moving!

BP has done absolutely nothing right period from the get go or the disaster in the Gulf never would have happened. They obviously have never used the necessary technology to deal with this disaster they just got the equipment so they could use the lie that they were prepared. Nothing has gone right! Minimizing the ecological damage and helping the people whose lives they have destroyed they could care less about. Minimizing their financial liability and staying in control of their disaster is all that matters. We can not let them ply their destruction in the Arctic too!

Now unbeknownst to me we plan on allowing Chevron to drill in the Arctic too. We know what happened in the Gulf of Mexico and we see the still unfolding nightmare from the disaster in the North sea with oil and deadly gas thrown in. Why do we seem to be racing to destroy the planet. It can only take so much and we have made a horrible mess to date. Why not hydrogen and or natural gas as a major energy replacement? We have to stop this if it is not too lat already!



James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

Saturday, April 21, 2012

U.S.'s Arctic plans may serve as a wake-up call for Canada and the world as they scramble for the resources as the Arctic thaws






The Cold War for Arctic resources is not just heating up – it’s leading to a growing militarization in the remote North.

That’s the conclusion a study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which claims that Russia, Canada, Denmark and Norway are all developing their military interests there. Also, more countries are seeking access to the region’s important natural resources and transport routes, such as “outsiders” like China, India and Brazil.

U.S.'s Arctic plans may serve as a wake-up call for Canada: The Pentagon wants to know what’s happening in the Arctic; there’s an app for that. Well not yet, but Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency wants one in a hurry. In a call for proposals this week, it said it plans to pick, deploy and test two systems this summer. “Remote sensing may offer affordable advantages over traditional methods of monitoring the region – aircraft, satellites or manned ships and submarines – due to the great distances in the Arctic,” the agency said in a call for bids.

The U.S. military wants “new technologies to monitor the Arctic both above and below the ice, providing year-round situational awareness without the need for forward-basing or human presence.” Nothing nefarious about that. Except that slicing up the Arctic as retreating ice heralds a 21st-century resources rush and shipping boom at the top of the world is shaping up as a race for riches and control.Do you think it will matter?


I have been covering this for 5 years now, remember: The scramble for the Arctic: Russia to station 2 military Brigades in the Arctic: Vladimir Putin said Russia would strongly defend its interests and Putin is back
Russia's defense minister has said he plans to create two specialist army brigades to be based in the Arctic.The announcement comes days after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Russia would strongly defend its interests in the region.

Denmark to lay claim to North Pole: DENMARK which already counts Greenland and the Faroe Islands as its Arctic territories, is planning to lay claim to the North Pole. This will put Denmark on a collision course with Russia, the US, Canada and Norway but they all better make a share deal and avoid conflict over this.

I wanted to discuss that in 2007 when Russia declared that it had successfully planted their flag at the bottom of the Arctic claiming it as Russian territory Russia was disturbed that Canada the US and others dismissed it as a joke saying that is worthless in the 21st Century. Myself I wasn't as sure as it seems like a scary ratcheting up of the race for future resources and world domination. Well attitudes are changing when recent events are taken into account. I am sure Denmark's joining this venture will simply be dismissed.

It has been noted that Russian nostalgia for past greatness has been seen stretching from the North Pole to the Mediterranean via the Caucasus. First the Russians planted a flag on the bottom of the Arctic. Then they promised to return to the Mediterranean. .

Russia's Mediterranean plans pale in comparison with its audacious foray into the Arctic where they collected soil samples and planted the Russian flag two and a half miles below the sea. The official purpose of this first-ever manned mission was "to prove that the North Pole is an extension of the Russian coastal shelf." Geologists say the region could have big oil, gas and mineral reserves. Massive oil reserves is more like it!

Knowing that the Arctic features prominently in Russian Imperial mythology and the rising desire for Russia to regain prominence as a world power you have to be very concerned about this and Canada now is. Canada's prime minister went on a three-day trip to the Arctic in an effort to assert sovereignty over the region a week after Russia symbolically staked a claim to the North Pole by sending submarines.

Five countries -- Canada, Russia, the United States, Norway and Denmark -- are competing to secure subsurface rights to the Arctic seabed. One study by the U.S. Geological Survey estimates the Arctic has as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas. PM Harper, who has pledged to spend billions defending Canada's sovereignty over the Arctic, is said "Economic development -- unleashing the resource-based potential of the North, environmental protection -- protecting the unique Northern environment, national sovereignty -- protecting our land, airspace and territorial waters were his priorities.

" In response to the building interest in the shelf Canada's PM Harper announced that six to eight new patrol ships would be built to guard the Northwest Passage sea route in the Arctic, which the United States insists does not belong to Canada. Canadian PM vowed in 2007 to defend Arctic

U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins had criticized Harper's promise to defend the Arctic, calling the Northwest Passage "neutral waters." This is all very troubling as we watch the ratcheting up of tensions around the world as we try to move into the future. The increased militarism around the world is tenuous but throw all the recent developments in with what is shaping up to be a fight over the Arctic and its resources which will only serve to ecologically destroy another very important part of the Ocean's and world's ecosystem in what is increasingly appearing in trouble.

Denmark's interest and claim is also old. The scramble for the Arctic also gathered pace in 2007 as Denmark prepared to challenge Russia's bid for the North Pole and Canada vowed to defend its "sovereignty" over the region's frozen waters. Boy are they getting desperate! Over the next month they searched for evidence that the Lomonosov Ridge, a 1,200-mile, underwater mountain range running close to the Pole, is a geographical extension of Greenland, a Danish possession. The mission it was felt would strain relations between Denmark and Russia, which claims to have found evidence linking the ridge to Siberia. Both countries will seek adjudication from a United Nations commission in the next few years that could award a large swathe of Arctic territory to the country with the most compelling case. The scramble for the arctic The time is coming closer!


James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Eastern Mediterranean Energy Games join the scramble for the Arctic and the great China sea's grab


Eastern Mediterranean Energy Games: Last October the government of Cyprus enacted for the first time in its history a process that may well lead it to become an important natural-gas production center, via the hypothetical reserves to be found just offshore this Eastern Mediterranean Island. In parallel, Turkey raised its tones, proclaiming its adamant stance against any exploration without its involvement, whilst Greece and Israel provided both tacit and explicit support towards Cyprus.

Meanwhile, neighboring Syria is crippled by civil strife, and the whole region resembles a powder keg that may explode at any given moment, if one adds the already-explosive political situation in countries like Egypt and the wider climate in the Middle East.


Russia's defense minister has said he plans to create two specialist army brigades to be based in the Arctic.The announcement comes days after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Russia would strongly defend its interests in the region.

Denmark to lay claim to North Pole: DENMARK which already counts Greenland and the Faroe Islands as its Arctic territories, is planning to lay claim to the North Pole. This will put Denmark on a collision course with Russia, the US, Canada and Norway but they all better make a share deal and avoid conflict over this.

Denmark's interest and claim is also old. The scramble for the Arctic also gathered pace in 2007 as Denmark prepared to challenge Russia's bid for the North Pole and Canada vowed to defend its "sovereignty" over the region's frozen waters. Boy are they getting desperate! Over the next month they searched for evidence that the Lomonosov Ridge, a 1,200-mile, underwater mountain range running close to the Pole, is a geographical extension of Greenland, a Danish possession. The mission it was felt would strain relations between Denmark and Russia, which claims to have found evidence linking the ridge to Siberia. Both countries will seek adjudication from a United Nations commission in the next few years that could award a large swathe of Arctic territory to the country with the most compelling case. The scramble for the arctic The time is coming closer!

We have been discussing increased tensions due to ownership claims over long disputed islands and unrecovered raw material riches below the east and South China Seas for years. China is embroiled in territorial disputes with Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei Japan, and India:

China has been making all these ownership claims while warning other Asian countries to stay away. Meanwhile they have supposedly been building their world war machine with "innocent" intentions. China accuses Japan of exaggerating it as a military threat: It is no exaggeration it is called truth and you better be concerned and China calls weapons modernization drive warnings alarmist "cock-and-bull story. Also US senators warn Beijing on South China Sea, China warns US to stay out of it

All this to no avail as China's answer is always that her intentions are innocent "yeah like Hitler's military buildup prior to WW2" We must all stop playing these games at this point and like it or not "share" if we are to survive into the future. Sadly we know the powers to be are not smart enough to do that. We are already in severe trouble with the condition of the world environmentally and due to power struggles getting ready to erupt in the Middle East and make things horrifically worse in many regards.

Everybody is willing to fight for energy and natural resources as they jockey for position in the fight for the future. They all better learn to compromise, share, and be happy with what they have or there will be no future for any of us.

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

Sunday, July 10, 2011

The scramble for the Arctic: Russia to station 2 military Brigades in the Arctic: Vladimir Putin said Russia would strongly defend its interests






Russia's defense minister has said he plans to create two specialist army brigades to be based in the Arctic.The announcement comes days after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Russia would strongly defend its interests in the region.

Denmark to lay claim to North Pole: DENMARK which already counts Greenland and the Faroe Islands as its Arctic territories, is planning to lay claim to the North Pole. This will put Denmark on a collision course with Russia, the US, Canada and Norway but they all better make a share deal and avoid conflict over this.

I wanted to discuss that in 2007 when Russia declared that it had successfully planted their flag at the bottom of the Arctic claiming it as Russian territory Russia was disturbed that Canada the US and others dismissed it as a joke saying that is worthless in the 21st Century. Myself I wasn't as sure as it seems like a scary ratcheting up of the race for future resources and world domination. Well attitudes are changing when recent events are taken into account. I am sure Denmark's joining this venture will simply be dismissed.

It has been noted that Russian nostalgia for past greatness has been seen stretching from the North Pole to the Mediterranean via the Caucasus. First the Russians planted a flag on the bottom of the Arctic. Then they promised to return to the Mediterranean. .

Russia's Mediterranean plans pale in comparison with its audacious foray into the Arctic where they collected soil samples and planted the Russian flag two and a half miles below the sea. The official purpose of this first-ever manned mission was "to prove that the North Pole is an extension of the Russian coastal shelf." Geologists say the region could have big oil, gas and mineral reserves. Massive oil reserves is more like it!

Knowing that the Arctic features prominently in Russian Imperial mythology and the rising desire for Russia to regain prominence as a world power you have to be very concerned about this and Canada now is. Canada's prime minister went on a three-day trip to the Arctic in an effort to assert sovereignty over the region a week after Russia symbolically staked a claim to the North Pole by sending submarines.

Five countries -- Canada, Russia, the United States, Norway and Denmark -- are competing to secure subsurface rights to the Arctic seabed. One study by the U.S. Geological Survey estimates the Arctic has as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas. PM Harper, who has pledged to spend billions defending Canada's sovereignty over the Arctic, is said "Economic development -- unleashing the resource-based potential of the North, environmental protection -- protecting the unique Northern environment, national sovereignty -- protecting our land, airspace and territorial waters were his priorities.

" In response to the building interest in the shelf Canada's PM Harper announced that six to eight new patrol ships would be built to guard the Northwest Passage sea route in the Arctic, which the United States insists does not belong to Canada. Canadian PM vowed in 2007 to defend Arctic

U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins had criticized Harper's promise to defend the Arctic, calling the Northwest Passage "neutral waters." This is all very troubling as we watch the ratcheting up of tensions around the world as we try to move into the future. The increased militarism around the world is tenuous but throw all the recent developments in with what is shaping up to be a fight over the Arctic and its resources which will only serve to ecologically destroy another very important part of the Ocean's and world's ecosystem in what is increasingly appearing in trouble.

Denmark's interest and claim is also old. The scramble for the Arctic also gathered pace in 2007 as Denmark prepared to challenge Russia's bid for the North Pole and Canada vowed to defend its "sovereignty" over the region's frozen waters. Boy are they getting desperate! Over the next month they searched for evidence that the Lomonosov Ridge, a 1,200-mile, underwater mountain range running close to the Pole, is a geographical extension of Greenland, a Danish possession. The mission it was felt would strain relations between Denmark and Russia, which claims to have found evidence linking the ridge to Siberia. Both countries will seek adjudication from a United Nations commission in the next few years that could award a large swathe of Arctic territory to the country with the most compelling case. The scramble for the arctic The time is coming closer!


James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

Monday, May 23, 2011

Denmark to lay claim to North Pole joining Russia, the US, Canada, and Norway





Denmark to lay claim to North Pole: DENMARK which already counts Greenland and the Faroe Islands as its Arctic territories, is planning to lay claim to the North Pole. This will put Denmark on a collision course with Russia, the US, Canada and Norway but they all better make a share deal and avoid conflict over this.

I wanted to discuss that in 2007 when Russia declared that it had successfully planted their flag at the bottom of the Arctic claiming it as Russian territory Russia was disturbed that Canada the US and others dismissed it as a joke saying that is worthless in the 21st Century. Myself I wasn't as sure as it seems like a scary ratcheting up of the race for future resources and world domination. Well attitudes are changing when recent events are taken into account. I am sure Denmark's joining this venture will simply be dismissed.

It has been noted that Russian nostalgia for past greatness has been seen stretching from the North Pole to the Mediterranean via the Caucasus. First the Russians planted a flag on the bottom of the Arctic. Then they promised to return to the Mediterranean. .

Russia's Mediterranean plans pale in comparison with its audacious foray into the Arctic where they collected soil samples and planted the Russian flag two and a half miles below the sea. The official purpose of this first-ever manned mission was "to prove that the North Pole is an extension of the Russian coastal shelf." Geologists say the region could have big oil, gas and mineral reserves. Massive oil reserves is more like it!

Knowing that the Arctic features prominently in Russian Imperial mythology and the rising desire for Russia to regain prominence as a world power you have to be very concerned about this and Canada now is. Canada's prime minister went on a three-day trip to the Arctic in an effort to assert sovereignty over the region a week after Russia symbolically staked a claim to the North Pole by sending submarines.

Five countries -- Canada, Russia, the United States, Norway and Denmark -- are competing to secure subsurface rights to the Arctic seabed. One study by the U.S. Geological Survey estimates the Arctic has as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas. PM Harper, who has pledged to spend billions defending Canada's sovereignty over the Arctic, is said "Economic development -- unleashing the resource-based potential of the North, environmental protection -- protecting the unique Northern environment, national sovereignty -- protecting our land, airspace and territorial waters were his priorities.

" In response to the building interest in the shelf Canada's PM Harper announced that six to eight new patrol ships would be built to guard the Northwest Passage sea route in the Arctic, which the United States insists does not belong to Canada. Canadian PM vowed in 2007 to defend Arctic

U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins had criticized Harper's promise to defend the Arctic, calling the Northwest Passage "neutral waters." This is all very troubling as we watch the ratcheting up of tensions around the world as we try to move into the future. The increased militarism around the world is tenuous but throw all the recent developments in with what is shaping up to be a fight over the Arctic and its resources which will only serve to ecologically destroy another very important part of the Ocean's and world's ecosystem in what is increasingly appearing in trouble.

Denmark's interest and claim is also old. The scramble for the Arctic also gathered pace in 2007 as Denmark prepared to challenge Russia's bid for the North Pole and Canada vowed to defend its "sovereignty" over the region's frozen waters. Boy are they getting desperate! Over the next month they searched for evidence that the Lomonosov Ridge, a 1,200-mile, underwater mountain range running close to the Pole, is a geographical extension of Greenland, a Danish possession. The mission it was felt would strain relations between Denmark and Russia, which claims to have found evidence linking the ridge to Siberia. Both countries will seek adjudication from a United Nations commission in the next few years that could award a large swathe of Arctic territory to the country with the most compelling case. The scramble for the arctic The time is coming closer!


James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Russia's Putin says he wants peaceful division of Arctic: His actions in 2007 hmm?



Scrambling for the Arctic


Russia's Putin says he wants peaceful division of Arctic : Yeah right!


Putin's Arctic invasion: Russia lays claim to the North Pole and all its gas oil and diamonds

Anyway, I wanted to discuss that in 2007 when Russia declared that it had successfully planted their flag at the bottom of the Artic claiming it as Russian territory Russia was disturbed that Canada the US and others dismissed it as a joke saying that is worthless in the 21st Century. Myself I wasn't as sure as it seems like a scary ratcheting up of the race for future resources and world domination. Well attitudes are changing when recent events are taken into account.

It has been noted that Russian nostalgia for past greatness has been seen stretching from the North Pole to the Mediterranean via the Caucasus. First the Russians planted a flag on the bottom of the Arctic. Then they promised to return to the Mediterranean. You know what went on with Georgia, That the three events came close together may be a coincidence. That they all testify to Russia's new assertiveness is not.

The row with Georgia is not the only source of anxiety for its neighbours. Russia's naval commander proposed "to restore its permanent presence" in the Mediterranean, using the Baltic and Black Sea fleets. For years a Russian naval base in Syria has been standing empty. The return of their ships to Syria is a dream of Russia's admirals and a nightmare for Israel, which fears renewed Russian co-operation with Syria.

Russia's Mediterranean plans pale in comparison with its audacious foray into the Arctic where they collected soil samples and planted the Russian flag two and a half miles below the sea. The official purpose of this first-ever manned mission was "to prove that the North Pole is an extension of the Russian coastal shelf." Geologists say the region could have big oil, gas and mineral reserves.


Knowing that the Arctic features prominently in Russian Imperial mythology and the rising desire for Russia to regain prominence as a world power you have to be very concerned about this and Canada now is. Canada's prime minister went on a three-day trip to the Arctic in an effort to assert sovereignty over the region a week after Russia symbolically staked a claim to the North Pole by sending submarines.

Five countries -- Canada, Russia, the United States, Norway and Denmark -- are competing to secure subsurface rights to the Arctic seabed. One study by the U.S. Geological Survey estimates the Arctic has as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas. PM Harper, who has pledged to spend billions defending Canada's sovereignty over the Arctic, is expected to announce the location of a planned military deep water port later in the week.

"Economic development -- unleashing the resource-based potential of the North, environmental protection -- protecting the unique Northern environment, national sovereignty -- protecting our land, airspace and territorial waters.

" In response to the building interest in the shelf Canada's PM Harper announced that six to eight new patrol ships would be built to guard the Northwest Passage sea route in the Arctic, which the United States insists does not belong to Canada. Canadian PM vowed in 2007 to defend Arctic

U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins had criticized Harper's promise to defend the Arctic, calling the Northwest Passage "neutral waters." This is all very troubling as we watch the ratcheting up of tensions around the world as we try to move into the future. The increased militarism around the world is tenuous but throw all the recent developments in with what is shaping up to be a fight over the Arctic and its resources which will only serve to ecologically destroy another very important part of the Ocean's and world's ecosystem in what is increasingly appearing

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com