The Independent: Audacious, thrilling - and deeply dangerous

Posted by Kendall Harmon

The age of exploration on our planet, which many assumed had come to an end, seems to have found a new lease of life. Last week, a small fleet - which comprised a scientific research vessel, two mini-submarines and a nuclear ice breaker - set sail from the Russian port of Murmansk. After the ice breaker carved a 125-metre by 10-metre opening in the thick pack ice near the North Pole, the two submarines descended into the freezing waters. Yesterday, one of those submarines planted a Russian flag, in a metal capsule, on the seabed two and a half miles below the Pole. The Russians are comparing the achievement to that of man walking on the moon for the first time.

In terms of audacity and technical skill, it may bear comparison with the 1969 moon landing....

Read it all.


Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Energy, Natural Resources

7 Comments
Posted August 3, 2007 at 5:13 am [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. Newbie Anglican wrote:

Oh please.  It was an Soviet-style imperialist stunt by Putin.

August 3, 8:35 am | [comment link]
2. libraryjim wrote:

OK, the flag was planted by the SUBMARINE.  Wake me when someone WALKS on the seabed and plants a flag.  Then that will be comprable to the moon-walk.

August 3, 9:43 am | [comment link]
3. Catharine Phillips wrote:

The Russians are laying claim
To the North Pole
More specifically
The ocean floor under
The North Pole

It boggles the mind
How anyone could think that planting a flag
On the ocean bottom
Under the North Pole
Makes it theirs
Or anyone’s
The possession of a whole country?
An individual?
Santa Claus?
Anyone?
And
An underwater flag?
What does it say?
THIS IS MINE! 
TAG…
FIRST DIBS…
Child rules
I guess fitting for the North Pole

August 3, 11:52 am | [comment link]
4. Rob Eaton+ wrote:

Ethel?

August 3, 12:47 pm | [comment link]
5. Harvey wrote:

One article I read implied that there was oil beneath the bottom of the Artic sea.  By the way do we claim Antartica because an American first set foot in that region.  Come on Putin give us a break!

August 4, 11:36 am | [comment link]
6. Christopher Hathaway wrote:

All of international law regarding national boundaries is premissed upon the idea that a nations boundaries only include a small protion of the seas bordering its lands. This means that there must be a clear distinction between land and sea. Russia is attempting to erase that distinction.

August 4, 2:32 pm | [comment link]
7. Newbie Anglican wrote:

#5: We do not claim all of Antartica.  Unless something has changed since I last read on the subject, there are international treaties about Antartica, and we (the U. S.) are in full compliance with them.

August 4, 8:13 pm | [comment link]
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