i expect the US would be unhappy if Canada announced it considered the waters north of alaska and around hawaii to be international waters rather than the territorial waters of the US. why the US gov't persists in this kind of shooting itself in the foot i don't know. it's not like we're suddenly going to declare the area off limits or anything. matter of fact it's distinctly better for the us interests if the area is canadian rather than international waters.

The US has probably gotten in the habit of doing as it pleases in those waters due to the Cold War and Ottowa not paying much attention. The current administration's kneejerk reaction is to make big demands of even our best allies. They really need to go to Ottowa and blaze up with the new PM. We don't need the Greenland straits either, the Bushies are just making more noises. We do own the chokepoint to the Pacific at the Bering Straits.

A curious bunch this US administration. At a time when you'd think they would be happy with a Conservative Government in Ottawa, and when they seem to have more enemies and nay sayers in the world then friends, stepping on your closest ally seems, well strange and disconnected. I recall former Republican Secretary of State George Shultz say that if the US couldn't get along with Canada, then they would have a hard time befriending anyone else. As another poster also noted, the US administration may want to re-consider their illegitimate philosophy, for using its context for challenging Canadian Arctic sovereignty, would open the doors for ANY country to consider the waters around Hawaii, Rhode Island, the Florida Keys, the Aleutians, and San Juan Islands also be international waters. That would create the largest defence and sovereignty threat to US citizens they had ever seen. Can you imagine the US if the Chinese, Russians, North Koreans, Iranians could use the US Arctic argument to send their military vessels, aircraft, etc. into these areas with international sanction created by the Bush administration? Very weird stuff coming out of Washington these days.

yeah every time you think bush has hit rock bottom on the diplomatic front he seems to reach deep within and come up with something new to screw up.

Is their a reference to the complete statement by the US regarding the Northwest Passage?

"Very weird stuff coming out of Washington these days." The Bushies would hate to disappoint people by taking friendly, moderate positions. They are trying to cover their asses over Jack Abramoff, defend spying on Americans for any reason they want, protect Fat Bastard Rove and Darth Cheney, keep Iraq together, deal with China and still have some semblance of a domestic policy. W is kinda being left on his own (dangerous) and Condi is the only truly intelligent and clean member of the Bush team these days. Not how to run a country. Don't worry neighbors, it's all hot air.

Nan, I don't mean too sound accusatory, but - you sound absolutely brain-washed by the far left in it's regard for Bush(ies). He's either an evil genius looking too usurp power, or a complete moron who mucks everything up!?! Which is it? As if this is the first time in history that Canada and the U.S. have been at a crossroads in these sort of things. But then, Bush's evil & idiotic influence extends back for the last 140+ years of our interactions with the canadian government, right!?! Don't mean to sound condescending, i'm really just confused on where most of you stand on Mr. Bush! Personally, i would let the canadian government take the lead in regards to the northwest passage. But, minds are quicker too change than government policies.

As an american, I think that the US should help push for Canada's claim. I agree, International waters there would probably be dangerous for both Canada and the US. Our president is one that I least like that I can remember but, blaming every US policy that you disagree with on the Bush administration does tend to get a little old.

"He's either an evil genius looking too usurp power, or a complete moron who mucks everything up!?! Which is it? " Rove and Cheney are evil geniuses but they have too much on their plate to handle and now have to spend considerable time covering their connections to Abramoff. The Valerie Plame thing is just waiting for a Democratic majority or at least 50/50 to blow up in the White House's face as well. Bush is an idiot who is now on his own while his masters are distracted. He thinks he can play the game, but will just make bad situations worse. Along with Canada we are loosing England as well, we will truly stand alone and the world today is not the kind of place we can afford to do that. Bush is not the first president to let the USN roam about Canadian arctic waters, but now they want those waters and we are actually going to try to make some kind of claim on them? Whose been brainwashed? Try to admit to yourself that this administration is mucking things up.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17975688%255E2703,00.html TARGET=_blank>Arctic defrost opens resources and divisions Anthony Browne, Davos January 30, 2006 IT is covered by thick ice, plunged into darkness for much of the year, and blasted by freezing winds. But the Arctic Ocean is being transformed by global warming from a no-man's-land into the front line of a scramble for resources. The melting of the ice pack is opening up vast reserves of offshore oil and gas, new shipping routes and fishing grounds, according to experts at the World Economic Forum. But the scramble for Arctic wealth is complicated by arguments over which countries have legal claim to the territory, plus border disputes, including those between Russia and the US. Eight countries -- the US, Russia, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland -- have claims to the Arctic, while resource-hungry China has started showing interest. Mounting tension over the opening up of the high north boiled over this week when Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper hit back at criticism from the US over his plans to spend $US5.3 billion ($7.07 billion) developing his country's forbidding Arctic coast, increasing its military presence and buying three new icebreakers. "I've been very clear that we have significant plans for national defence and for defence of our sovereignty, including Arctic sovereignty," he said. George Newton, chairman of the US Arctic Research Commission, told delegates at the conference of business leaders in Davos, Switzerland, that temperatures in the Arctic were expected to rise by 5.5C in the next 100 years, and that last year the Arctic ice sheet was smaller than ever. "When we've been talking about climate change it's with concern, but we're talking about opportunity," he said. Helge Lund, president of Statoil, Norway's state oil company, said a quarter of the world's undiscovered oil reserves, estimated to be 375 billion barrels, or enough to fuel the world for about 12 years, lies under the Arctic Ocean. "It will never replace the Middle East but it has the potential to be a good supplement," he said. A senior EU official said the prospect was interesting because "we need more diversification of supplies". Much of the oil and gas is thought to be below the Barents Sea north of Norway and Russia, where Statoil has set up the Snow White project, which operates below the sea and extracts gas for export to the US. Development of the area is complicated by border disputes between Norway and Russia that have been going on for 35 years. The retreating icepack is also opening up the fabled Northwest passage, meaning ships will be able to sail through the Arctic Ocean from the east coast of North America to the west coast and beyond far more quickly. Another route that is being opened up is the passage north of the coast of Siberia, allowing ships to sail direct from northern Europe to northeast Asia. The warming Arctic Ocean is also opening up new fishing grounds, particularly around the Bering Strait. Under the Law of the Sea, countries can claim up to 200 nautical miles of sea from their coasts, as well as resources below the coastal continental shelf. However, the US has not yet signed the law and its application is hampered by border disputes.

It should be said that the only dispute between Canada and Denmark is the little piece of rock in the Kennedy Channel which goes by its correct name Hans Ø. As I have made clear earlier, I really don't care if it is Canuck or Danish as long as the Kennedy Channel isn't considered international waters. I would add that Denmark and Canada will be embarking upon a joint giant effort over the next decade in carving up and claiming the arctic waters, as they would otherwise forfeit their claims. They can claim 200nm from the beginning of the continental slope and not from the coast, ast the article states. But now for what actually triggered my post. From just about where did "resource-hungry China" enter this equation. Never heard of this before ?? TAC