Congratulations Greenland
Posted on November 26, 2008 - Filed Under Arctic | Leave a Comment
Yesterday, more than 75 percent of the Greenlanders voted for increased self government. Only one area had a no majority. According to the Norwegian daily, VG, many Greenlanders see this as a step towards full independence. The vote has been welcomed by the Danish Primeminister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen. According to Jyllandsposten he says (my translation): [...]
The EU and the Arctic
Posted on November 24, 2008 - Filed Under Arctic, European union | 1 Comment
The EU has for a long time taken slight interest in what has been happening on its northern Arctic periphery. That is set to change. The Commission has just released a communication to the parliament and the council on “The European Union and the Arctic Region”. This could be good news, it could be bad. [...]
The Arctic is melting – drill for oil
Posted on September 23, 2008 - Filed Under Arctic, Canada, European union | 1 Comment
The Arctic is melting – drill for oil. That is the response from the European Commission at least if we are to believe the EUObserver, that writes: Drilling for oil in the fragile northern environment must go ahead with European financial and political support for the sake of EU energy security, energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs [...]
Conflicting claims
Posted on September 22, 2008 - Filed Under Arctic | Leave a Comment
I have earlier written about the conflicting claims in the polar basin. The University of Durham has published this very interesting map of these claims. You can find a larger version of this map in a pdf-version with notes at http://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/ibru/arctic.pdf This map gives you a good idea of the potential conflicts in the north.
The Arctic is heating up
Posted on August 24, 2008 - Filed Under Arctic, Canada, Norway, Russia, USA | 2 Comments
No, I’m not talking about climate change. Even though I obviously could have, the North West passage is open again this year. No, I’m talking about the international scramble to grab land (read sea bottom) in the Arctic. The United Nations Law of the Sea gives all the countries around the Arctic bassin until 2014 [...]