Pacific Spirit Marine Institute
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Russia’s missile cruiser ‘Marshal Ustinov’ is on its way to joining up with the “Severomorsk” which is already in the Svalbard archipelago near Norway.
A Russian Navy spokesman Igor Dygalo says, “We have been talking for a long time about widening our activity in the Arctic.” “There is nothing aggressive in it- it is in the interests of security.”
Protecting Russian fisherman who have been blocked from the seas around the island of Spitsbergen is said to be the aim of the patrols. Norway claims exclusive fishing rights to that area which has a U.N. designated boundary. Russia however does not recognise that boundary.
The Serveromorsk is one of Russia’s Northern Fleet’s submarine destroyer. Russia has said it plans to increase its combat presence in the area.
The seas around Spitzbergen are rich with fish and are claimed by both Norway and Russia. The ships are said to have been sent on requests for protection from Russian fishermen who have been challenged by the Norwegian navy for illegal fishing.
Svalbard was placed under Norwegian sovereignty by a 1920 treaty that Russia does not recognize. Oslo plans to name the archipelago an ‘economic zone which would further bar Russian fishermen from the area.
Spokesman Dygalo categorized the latest patrols in the area as part of “significant expansion of the activities of the Northern Fleet.”
Recognizing some international law but not others?
Dygalo says the movements of the ships will remain “in strict accordance with international law,”
Russian General Vladimir Chamanov has said the training division immediately set out (training) plans for troops that could be engaged in Arctic combat missions. This, following the response from several nations after the flag planting at the North pole.
Arctic Chess anyone?
Chamanov said in an interview with the Russian military daily news Krasnaya Zvezda, “Wars these days are won and lost well before they are launched.”
The U.S. Coast Guard plans over this summer include: The Icebreaker Healy to make as many as 3 scientific research trips into the Arctic with the National Science Foundation.
The Ice breaker Polar Sea returned to Beaufort Sea having been pulled away from the Antarctic.
The Buoy tender Spar will sail from Kodiak to make an accounting of the ’state of Arctic navigation’ assessing needs for lights, buoys and transit separation schemes along with other navigational aids.
C-130 planes will begin flying missions from Nome and Barrow.
The future is now.
Rear Adm. Arthur “Gene” Brooks, commander of Coast Guard District 17, which covers Alaska says, the “new Arctic is now; the effects of polar melting are no longer something that could happen in the distant future.”
Who has been listening indeed.
Brooks also says,”I thought when I first got here (Alaska) that this was an issue for 2020,2030 or 2040.” “My first year in Alaska convinced me the new Arctic is already here, that this is an issue for now. I go around in Alaska and talk to people and say, ‘are you seeing the same things?’ and the response I’m getting is ‘we’ve been seeing these things for years, why haven’t you been listening?’”
Knock knock…who’s there?
The wistful visions of the Arctic being a brilliant white and silent land where exotic creatures roam is a delusion. The largest open-pit mine in the world operates in the polar latitudes. The Red Dog mine sees enormous vehicles truck ore to it’s storage facilities in mile-long warehouses.
Enormous bulk cargo ships, displacing 70,000 tons or more sail through the Chukchi Sea to the the ore. They anchor 11 miles offshore and send in huge ferries to move the ore those 11 miles.
A fleet of at least 18 energy exploration ships set to explore this summer looking for anticipated huge reserves of coal and oil.
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Far more pollution has been streaming into the atmosphere in the Arctic for far long than most people realize. There is no possible way that the exhaust from all the ‘ventures’, from diamond mines to ore ferries, have not contributed substantially to the degradation of the atmosphere over the Arctic.
Ice Road Trucks. Photo Credit: Ken Woroner
‘Marshal Ustinov’ Ship Russia Warefare.Ru
Labels: Arctic, North Pole, Norway, Russia, U.S. Coast Guard
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Fire and Ice. The Arctic is heating up in more ways than one.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Russian pilots accidentally dropped an un-pulverized chunk of cement into a house while trying to assure a dry holiday. Yet another attempt to ‘fool mother nature’.
Let’s have a look at what is commonly found in cement shall we? Calcium oxide which is corrosive to human tissue. Crystaline silica which can cause damage to lungs, and is abrasive to the skin. Toss in a trace amount of chromium and voila! allergic reactions.
Silver oxide, another cloud seeding favorite, is said to be non-toxic to humans yet it is known to have severe detrimental affects on fish. Salt, popular also, is being widely used to change the weather too. Salt lessens the ability of soil to transfer nutrients to plants…there are few enough nutrients left in the food we eat as it is.
Pony up Paul McCartney! In 2004 Mc Cartney’s team reportedly spent 55,000.00 to have 3 jets spray clouds over the Palace Square in St. Petersburg, Russia to stave off rain.The former Beatle needed to spread his former corrupting influence in a rain free environment, so he influenced the weather by spreading, not corruption but, dry ice so that his 50,000 fans there could stay dry. (The former Soviet regime had banned Beatle music as a ‘corrupting influence.)
China has guaranteed rainless medal ceremonies for the Olympics. A quick google search brings up more countries in the world and more state agencies ‘practicing weather modification’ than any sane person would hope to find. It’s absolutely daunting and the reasons, in some cases, are beyond belief.
The United States, Canada, South Africa, Mexico, Australia,China, Russia…You name it. It seems if a nation or a state has two nickles to rub together they are going to get into the weather modification game. Beyond a playful picnic, or drought busting, I think it would be a mistake not to at least consider many nations are eyeballing weaponization of the weather…Operation Popeye is just one, now public, example.
No wonder our weather is so screwed up!
The world would do well to remember “The slightest change in the initial conditions of a chaotic system can accumulate in the long run into an enormous effect.” Edward
Lorenz.
I personally think the world has gone ‘fractal’.
Photo Cloud seeding 1957 near Sydney naa.gov.au
Labels: China, Climate Change, Cloud seeding, Credence Clearwater Revival, Russia, weather modification
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Credence Clearwater Revival Finally Get’s An Answer! Who’ll Stop the Rain? Anyone that can afford to; that’s who.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
George Bush says the Northwest Passage is an ‘international passageway’. That seems like a lot of syllables for Bush to be using in only two words, but Bush says a lot of things. Bush also used a lot of syllables when he said ’serious consultations’ need to take place regarding border security. Some language attributed to Bush just don’t sound very Bush’esque. Though he followed up with a Bushism we can believe when he added they were “working hard to get a plan ready”…now that is some Bush language we’ve all grown familiar with.
Paul Cellucci, US ambassador to Canada recently said it would benefit the US if Bush would accept Canada’s claim to the Northwest Passage.
I think we can safely read that as ‘if we all agree the Passage belongs to Canada, then it will be up to Canada to fund, protect and oversee the Passage.
Canada gearing up with a C$100m military training center in Resolute, and a deepwater facility near the Northwest Passage is certainly the first step toward giving Canada the ability to protect and oversee the Passage.
11 ships were able to use the Passage in 2006. With more and more of the polar ice melting more and more ships will be attempting to cut thousands of miles off their voyages.
No good deed goes unpunished. After the US handed the Panama Canal over to Panama they found the monumental canal in the hands of the Chinese. This illustrates the desperate need for another passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific if the opportunity arises.
It would do the free world quite a lot of good to assess in what hands the Northwest Passage should rest. The canal was cut through the very core of the Continental Divide. Until and if the Northwest passage opens up and becomes a truly viable route, the Panama Canal remains the most vital piece of water on the planet. Illustrating the importance of the this little bit of water is the fact that it shaves 4,500 miles off a trip by sea from Tokyo and London. Forget what that means to commerce, and just consider the meaning in military terms.
Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea
Tracing one warm line through a land so wide and savage
And make a northwest passage to the sea
Stan Rogers
Photo American University ICE project
Labels: Arctic, Canada, Global Warming, North Pole, Northwest Passage, Ocean, Russia, USA
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Whose Line is it Anyway? Whose Passage is it Anyway?
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Denmark is but the next nation in the race to stake a claim to the Arctic’s north pole and its potentially vast oil and mineral deposits. Helge Sander, Denmark’s Minister of science , technology and innovation believes …”there are things suggesting that Denmark could be given the North Pole.”
Begging the question sir…PSMI would like to know: Given by whom?
Peter MacKay, the Canadian Foreign Minister has said of the Russians “…You can’t go around the world and just plant flags and say, ‘We’re claiming this territory’.”
Apparently the Russians don’t believe this to be the case. The Russians claim to have planted a rust-proof Titanium flag which, as Akademik Fedorov claims will be there 100, or even 1,000 years from now planted in Yellow colored gravel 4,261 meters beneath the North Pole.
One might wonder who would be going 13,980 feet below the North Pole besides Mrs. Claus, looking for the mister. But, there is an apparent rush by several nations to reach just that depth.
Among the Russian plummeting the depths of the deep sea beds were a Swedish Pharmaceuticals millionaire and an Australian who co-sponsored the expedition along with the Russian Government. As a special bonus, Putin awarded Artur Chilingarov, who led the expedition, the status of “presidential envoy to the Arctic”.
Samples were taken of the soil in an effort to scientifically and legally claim the ‘yellow gravel’ under the North Pole is Russian Gravel.
Now the line to lay claim to the vast wealth that could be sleeping below the North Pole forms behind the Russians. Next in cue: Canada as they have no Titanium flag planted yet, followed by Denmark, Norway and the US.
Until recently the biggest challenge, or more succinctly put hindrance, was the Arctic Ice. Until global warming came to melt it all away there really was no point in becoming involved in a race that could have no profitable outcome.
With so many nations, peppered with the occasional mogul, one has to start wondering in what language they should print their “snow cone hut’ signage.
Open voor Zaken, Open for Business Eh, Open, Open, Open!
Labels: Arctic, Canada, Global Warming, North Pole, Ocean, Russia
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Santa Facing Competition at The North Pole: Move Over Fat Man in Red!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
A Russian expedition expected to send divers into the Arctic waters around the pole yesterday or today.
This development ups the ante for the Canadian Arctic Rangers who protect Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic.
Is the Lomonosov Ridge an extension of the Siberian continental shelf? If so the ridge that runs under the Arctic Ocean would belong to Russia. Russia is wanting to prove that the Arctic is Russian. In fact they are intent on proving the North Pole is an extension of the Russian Coastal shelf.
Malery Kuznetsov, is head of a Russian expedition team who thinks they may even discover as yet…”unknown Organisms”…
If the Arctic is found to be Russian the Geopolitical ramifications would be huge. Some geologists believe as much as 18% of the world’s oil reserve may be underneath the Arctic. 18% of the world’s oil reserve would put the Arctic in the same league as Saudi Arabia.
As it stands now, any country that borders the Arctic Ocean can “exploit” resources within a 200-nautical mile economic zone of its territory. Russia needs to prove with scientific evidence that the Region does belong to them.
Canada and Denmark also have a dog in this fight, both claiming the Lomonosov Ridge is connected to their territories.
The Canadian Government recently placed a $7 Billion C order for new naval patrol vessels. Prime Minister Harper said they would be designed to ‘defend its sovereignty over the Arctic’.
The North West Passage is opening up due to melting ice from ‘Global Warming’.
As temperatures heat up the North West Passage could possibly remain open all year. This little development could shave 2,000 nautical miles off the trip from Europe to Asia.
The ramifications of that would be rather astounding. Holy Cod Fish Batman, Oil isn’t the only precious item that could be ‘exploited’ in the Arctic. There are large mineral deposits, coal beds, and perhaps large fish reserves.
As the planet heats up, the cold war may also be heating up.
Photo thanks goes to “Bob Shavelson/Marine Photobank”.
Labels: Arctic, Canada, Environment, Global Warming, Northwest Passage, Ocean, Russia
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Global Warming Heats up Cold War: Planet feeling the heat, neighbors feeling the cold
