Rush To The Arctic

This all started when Russia, which has claimed about 460,000 square miles of Arctic waters, last summer planted its flag on the ocean floor at the location of the geographic North Pole. Under the International treaties, the claiming of waters in the Arctic past the 300 mile Economic zone if prohibited, but so is the wanton invasion of Georgia. Russia does what Russia wants to do, if people or things get in the way, squashed.

Now we find the U.S. plans to fight back, for four years we have been conducting surveys of the Artic. Aided last year by abnormal sea ice melt, the survey is ongoing this summer.

More Arctic diplomacy ahead

... the State Department said Monday that two more scientific expeditions will head to Alaska this summer to collect data "in support of defining the limits of [the Arctic's] extended continental shelf" for the fourth year in a row.

"The first cruise, Aug. 14 to Sept. 5 from Barrow, Alaska, will employ a sophisticated echo sounder that will collect data to create a three-dimensional map of the Arctic seafloor in an area known as the Chukchi Cap," the department said. "The second cruise, September 6 to October 1, also from Barrow, will be conducted in cooperation with Canada."

It's all about oil.