Polar claims

Now that the polar icecaps appear to be in meltdown, the dollar signs are beginning to be switched on in certain people's eyes. The Russians planted a flag on the ocean floor at the North Pole earlier this week, earning derision from the Canadians who described that move as 15th century. The Canadians themselves are not far off that track themselves, by seeking to establish their own claim to the North Polar basin. The North Pole sits under 2½ miles of water, but is also thought to contain large mineral reserves. And of course, people are rushing to stake their claims. Particularly if the ice melts and they become accessible.

The four countries staking claims are the USA (by virtue of Alaska), Canada, Norway and Russia. Norway holds sway in the Svalbard Islands, which straddle the 80th parallel, 300 miles north of mainland Scandinavia. Canada is building 6 navy ships to patrol the northwest passage between the Bering Strait (separating Russia and Alaska) and Greenland. The US already have an economic presence in the area - think of Prudhoe Bay. It is for that reason that the Americans are at loggerheads with the Canadians over the NW passage.

The problem is that the North Pole is a sea. Antarctica is a landmass, and a treaty is in force, forbidding any one country from accessing its mineral reserves. It is an unseemly scramble, brought about by climate change which is supposed to be tackled by international consensus. It is becoming clear, to my mind, that the imperative to do so will be lessened if the benefit of climate change will be the melting of the polar icecap which will render mineral assets accessible. It could even be argued that there could be a callous, unspoken consensus to let the climate to go pot to that end. The much wider implications of the melting of ice are conveniently ignored. We are already seeing the shifting of the balance.

You can draw another paralel. A huge hue and cry has been going on in the Middle East over Iraq, which is basically a sandpit - with oil under it. If it wasn't for the oil, nobody would care a pin. Look at Zimbabwe: 5,000% inflation and rising, a dictator at the helm who is every bit as bad as Saddam Hussein - does anyone care? Nah, no oil, no strategic assets.