Britain to claim more than 1m sq km of Antarctica

[gulfcoastliberal]

Source: The Guardian

The United Kingdom is planning to claim sovereign rights over a vast area of the remote seabed off Antarctica, the Guardian has learned. The submission to the United Nations covers more than 1m sq km (386,000 sq miles) of seabed, and is likely to signal a quickening of the race for territory around the south pole in the world's least explored continent.

The claim would be in defiance of the spirit of the 1959 Antarctic treaty, to which the UK is a signatory. It specifically states that no new claims shall be asserted on the continent. The treaty was drawn up to prevent territorial disputes.

The Foreign Office, however, has told the Guardian that data is being gathered and processed for a submission to the UN which could extend British oil, gas and mineral exploitation rights up to 350 miles offshore into the Southern Ocean.

snip

The Foreign Office confirmed yesterday that the UK was working to extend sovereign territory into new areas. "There are five claims in total that the UK is hoping to put forward," a statement said. "They are in the Bay of Biscay, around Ascension, off the British Antarctic Territory, around the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and in the Hatton/Rockall basin.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2007/oct/17/antarctica.sciencenews

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Delusions of Empires.

Don't we know it well . . . .

[mitchtv]

2. sounds like trouble

for the wildlife as the grabbing begins

[whistle]

3. I thought that no country could claim any part of Antartica for their own

[Devlzown]

4. Brittania lives!

The UN should tell them they can have a piece if the queen will spend her winters there. There must be sacrifices made for the realm!:evilgrin:

[htuttle]

7. Just bundle up and think of England!

[onehandle]

5. I claim the grounds at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20005.

The pResident squatters have 24 hours to vacate my land before I take international legal action.

:+

[tom_paine]

6. Yaaaay Britain! Grab your piece of the New Grand Chessboard!

It's 1890 and 1937 all wrapped up into one!

Get'cher resources while they're still cold!

Let's get this fucking World Oil and Water Wars on the ROAD! No more pussyfooting around. Let the Turks and the Brits and the Russians and the Chinese, and let's not forget the Bushies, battle out for control of the globe, like big video game (but much less violent, thanks a lot, Nuclear Weapons, for raining on the Bushies' parade but not allowing them to go hogwild as they likely wish).

[BushOut06]

8. Treaties mean nothing

Just ask Dubya.

[rodeodance]

9. and Fox news mockedly asked-----What does the nobel PEACE prize have to do with Gore. Idiots!