Norway, Canada, Russia, and Denmark have all
launched projects to justify their claims beyond
their EEZ, having ratified UNCLOS at various
points over the last 20 years.
The United States, on the other hand, has not yet
ratified UNCLOS. As one of the world’s largest
consumers, and rising oil producers (strange but
true), it’s a curious laziness on America’s part.
Maybe, just maybe, they’re already using the
approach of There Will Be Blood’s Daniel
Plainview, whose insanely long straw drank
everyone else’s milkshake…sluuuuurp.
“ C O U N T R I E S T H AT
H AV E A S U C C E S S F U L
NUCLEAR PROGRAM
H AV E A H I G H
P E R C E N TA G E O F
CITIZENS WHO
U N D E R S TA N D W H AT
N U C L E A R E N E R G Y I S .”
While the diplomatic cocktail of UNCLOS, EEZs,
and UNISA (pun not intended) seems to get
everyone nice and jolly at the Arctic bar, Russian
President Vladimir Putin's less than friendly
relationship with the West in recent times raises
serious concerns the unclaimed Arctic could
cause conflict between the competing nations.
It’s mildly comforting that the Arctic heavyweights
have made a plan, since conflict in a frozen
wasteland is not the most economical way to do
business. They signed the 2008 Ilulissat Convention
in Greenland, ensuring that if an argument arises
over a claim, the competing parties have to sort it
out on a bilateral basis.
An example, a slap-tickle version anyway, of what
the convention seeks to defuse is Hans Island, a 1.3
square kilometer piece of land between Ellesmere
Island and Greenland in the Nares Strait.
Claimed by both Canada and Denmark, the island
is virtually cut in half by a treaty between the two
countries (lol?). We should be happy that they
have not yet built a wall.
In the 1980s there were reports of the Danish
military planting its red-and-white Dannebrog flag
and leaving a bottle of Schnapps when visiting
the island. Whenever the Canadians arrived, they
would pull out the Danish flag, replace it with
their own and swap out the Schnapps with a bottle
of Canadian whiskey.
While the two countries had negotiated a more
exact border description in November 2012,
the dispute remains ongoing. At this point we’re
allowed to wonder about whether there is a
very large quantity of Danish Schnapps stored
somewhere in Canada.
By: Eddie Schmidt
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IMBO/ ISSUE 32/ '14