The attached short letter from Robert Amsterdam was published in the Globe and Mail on August 4.
Polar Bear WarningROBERT AMSTERDAM
Amsterdam & Peroff LLP
August 4, 2007
Toronto -- In response to your editorial (Pushing Ahead On The Arctic Seabed, Aug. 3), I would urge your readers not to take Russia's claim so lightly.
As a lawyer who has been involved in both Russia and Canada throughout my entire career, I can assure you that the comic symbolism of the flag-planting stunt is more than just theatre. The hostile belligerence of this mission, much ballyhooed in Russia, presents a direct threat to the legal status quo governing High Arctic territorial claims.
Given that the region contains more than a quarter of the world's undiscovered oil and gas deposits, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay's quips are far from a sufficient response, and could even be seen as hypocritical, given how Canada planted its own flag on Hans Island in 2005.
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Comments (2)
Russia's main argument for "greatness" at the present time is that it is an "energy superpower." It must therefore maximize the natural resources that it controls both at the present and in the future. Imagine, hypothetically speaking, if Germany were to claim the North Pole and found a sizable source of natural gas that it could then use to supply its own needs? Russia would lose its main market and its main justification for great power status.
Posted by Michel![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.robertamsterdam.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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August 7, 2007 11:47 PM
Posted on August 7, 2007 23:47
Similarly it is upsetting that everyone is fighting over these oil deposits, when basically we are counting on global warming to melt the ice caps to be able to access the resources.
The best case scenario would be that the arctic oil and gas remain untapped, covered in ice, as the world transitions to alternative energy sources - preferably energy sources which are abundant and not subject to manipulation for political gain. A Utopian suggestion perhaps, but one that should be made.
Posted by JT![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.robertamsterdam.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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August 8, 2007 2:24 PM
Posted on August 8, 2007 14:24