Just days after Russian explorers staked out a claim to the North Pole by planting a titanium flag on the seabed there, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced in Toronto on August 10 that his government plans to build a deep-water port and military training center in the Arctic...Harper has long been on record as defending Ottawa's claims in the Arctic. His government recently ridiculed the Russian mission as a throwback to "the 15th century," when claims could be staked out by planting flags.Denmark, which has claims in the Arctic through Greenland, also lost little time in responding to the Russian mission. Danish Radio reported on August 12 that the icebreaker "Oden" left the Norwegian port of Tromsoe for the North Pole in an effort to collect data to back Copenhagen's claims in the region. Denmark argues that the North Pole's continental base is linked to Greenland. (Radio Free Europe)
