We have Narwals. Don't fuck with something that has an ultra-sensory tooth that can turn you into an "authentic" merry-go-round...
I also say we attach cameras to Arctic Terns and torpedos to belugas. No one would fuck with us because they'd think we'd have gone crazy...
Thanks for the info Hyack. Any possibility of a select portion of the North Pole being labled as "no-man's land"? Or is that just a bit too hopeful on my part?
If I understand the situation correctly the Northwest Passage can be decided on being one of three things:
1) Canada wants it to be declared <b>Canadian Internal Waters</b>, hence absolutely no one will be able to sail through without our permission. Period.
2) The passage could be declared to be <b>Canadian territorial waters</b>, this is where foreign vessels will get the right of innocent passage. This is not what we want, but this isn't the worst outcome by far. Vessels using the right of innocent passage still have rules to follow.
3) The US and the EU want the passage declared an <b>International Strait</b>, here vessels get more than the right of innocent passage, they get right of transit passage. Now if the right of transit passage is applied to the Northwest Passage, basically anyone will be able to sail whatever the hell they want through our Arctic islands and we get no say at all. Russia for instance if it so wished could sail its CBG through there and legally we'd be obliged to not impede them.
I can't help but laugh at the Americans, because allowing the Northwest Passage to be declared an international strait WILL compromise the security of all of North America without a doubt, and they know it. The reason they are arguing for transit passage is because they are afraid other international straits in the world will be closed down once other countries see Canada securing the Northwest Passage.
This is a fight we cannot afford to lose, the passage must not be declared an international strait, if it is I'd support a Canadian blockade of the both entrances using Air, Land, and Sea forces (including the Coast Guard). Anything sailing through without our OK gets boarded, seized, and held in a Canadian port.
http://www.journal.forces.gc.ca/engraph ... rth3_e.pdf
Intertesting. Your map shows a channel between Boothia Penninsula and Somerset Island as an alternate shipping route. I thought that was too narrow, shallow, and full of rocks for safe shipping. Your map fails to show a route south of Baffin Island, through Fury and Hecla Straight. Even at it's narrowest point between Baffin Island and Melville Peninusla, where you have to go around Ormonde Island or Elder Island, it's still wider than the channel between Boothia and Somerset. It's my belief the route south of Baffin Island is navigable. The narrowest point between Baffin and Melville is roughly 1.5km wide; the narrowest point between Boothia and Somerset is less than 0.5km wide. Why does that map show routes that way?
This is important for defence of the passage. If the channel between Boothia and Somerset is not navigable then the Barrow Straight is a choke point where all shipping must pass. That makes Resolute a gate controlling the passage. That's one argument why the deep sea port as well as an army base and airforce base should all be located at Resolute. Nanisivik is on Strathcona Sound, off Admiralty Inlet on the north side of Baffin Island. The port is 100km from Parry Channel, where as Resolute is right on Parry Channel at the west end of Barrow Straight. To control the Northwest Passage Resolute makes sense, Nanisivik does not.
The other reason is to support commercial shipping. I'm told a ship went through the Northwest Passage but got a hole in it's hull. There wasn't anywhere at Resolute it could dock and tie up. They had to use World War 2 vintage landing craft to go out to the ship to repair it. We need a place the largest ships can tie up, including the largest oil tanker in the world and largest container ship in the world. That's what will travel through the Passage. We also need fuel and supplies for the ships, and an airport that can bring in spare parts to repair a ship. Furthermore, we need to concentrate all economic activity in the area in one single location until that place grows to a city.
I also argued that we don't need armed heavy icebreakers. I had thought we could place mounting points on 2 of our coast guard icebreakers, so they would function as coast guard vessels most of the time but could be converted into a navy frigate if a conflict broke out. It's a lot less expensive to have an operational ship that can be converted when needed rather than a dedicated navy ship. However, after looking at modern military technology I've come to the conclusion an armed ship is obsolete anyway; just use combat aircraft. We need an air force base at Resolute, one that can base CP-140 Aurora and CF-18 Hornet aircraft; not armed ships. Coast guard vessels already carry helicopters, they can carry customs inspectors or a coast guard pilot to seize a vessel if needed, or marines if things get too hot.
So, placement of the defence base depends on where shipping can go. Why are the routes drawn on your map that way?
The Bosphorus is not that much a freeway. The soviets made custom declarations when their naval units passed through. When the Kiev class carriers passed through, the customs declarations listed every aircraft and every missile aboard.