Tuesday - August 14, 2007

Seems the Russian Flag Planted on the Arctic Floor Was Faked 

Everbody world-wide has heard about the new Russian claim to the undersea riches of the Arctic. 

                                  

In fact, Russia even claimed to have planted a flag on the seabed of the Arctic to support its new territorial claims.

In response, Canada, Denmark, and the U.S. intend to "beef" up their claims in the area.  In particular, Canada will introduce several military bases in the region.

Canada plans to increase the number of troops patrolling the Arctic region and build new military bases in the same area, measures that would tone up its rule over the Northwest Passage.

The announcement was made by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who said a naval station will be constructed in Nanisivik, a former company town that has a port currently used as training base for the Coast Guard.

Since the mine in Nanisivik is closed, it can be turned into an deepwater port, a plan that would cost the Canadian government approximately 90 million dollars.

Buildings in Resolute Bay belonging to the government could have a new destination and become training facilities for military troops that will be increase to 5,000 and provided with new equipment.

“The first principle of Arctic sovereignty is use it or lose it. Today’s announcements tell the world that Canada has a real, growing, long-term presence in the Arctic,” the Canadian premier said.

Both sites are adjacent to the long-disputed Northwest Passage, which Canada claims is actually a part of its territorial waters, despite challenges from the United States and Russia.

Now it seems that the picture above was faked by the Russian government, reminiscent of the good old days of Soviet propaganda.

UNEARTHLY blue lights played across the ocean floor four kilometres below the North Pole as the heroic Russian explorers descended in mini-submarines to plant a metre-high flag.

That's what the Russian state television company, Rossiya, wanted us to believe. The truth was rather different.

In an apparent attempt to "sex up" a news program, the TV station has been caught passing off footage from the 1997 Hollywood blockbuster Titanic as a real-life report on the Kremlin's recent attempt to stake its claim to the riches of the Arctic Ocean.

Rossiya's images were distributed around the world, appearing on television news, websites and as "screen grabs" in newspapers.

It took an alert teenager in Finland with a Titanic DVD to spot the sham. Waltteri Seretin, 13, recognised the images in the national daily, Ilta-Sanomat.

"I was looking at the photo of the Russian sub expedition and I noticed immediately that there was something familiar about the picture," he told the paper.

"I checked it with my DVD and there it was, right there in the beginning of the movie; exactly the same image of the submersibles approaching the ship."

My take on the situation is that Russia, with its self-esteem bolstered by oil rubles, would really like to reassert its place on the world stage.  Unfortunately, with a population that is in a steep decline, an economy, that outside of the oil boom, is anemic at best, and a military that is underfunded, Putin decided that this little stunt to claim the Arctic would be a cheap way to build Russian prestige.  Too bad that his KGB cronies don't quite have a handle on the internet, a wonderful place that spreads hoaxes as well as dispels them.  

From what I see, the only thing Putin accomplished was to make the Canadians and Danes more committed to protecting their Arctic claims.

Maybe President Bush should send Moscow pictures like these to show Putin what a real flag looks like when it is planted on unexplored territory.

 

Author: The Machiavellian
Technorati Tags: Russia Putin Flag Arctic
Technorati Cosmos:
Technorati Watchlist:
Add this entry to: