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US Claims Huge Chunk of Seabed Amid Strategic Push for Resources

US Claims Huge Chunk of Seabed Amid Strategic Push for Resources - BNN Bloomberg

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/us-claims-huge-chunk-of-seabed-amid-strategic-push-for-resources-1.2015041

The US extended its claims on the ocean floor by an area twice the size of California, securing rights to potentially resource-rich seabeds at a time when Washington is ramping up efforts to safeguard supplies of minerals key to future technologies.

US Claims Huge Chunk of Seabed Amid Strategic Push for Resources - BNN Bloomberg

31 comments

troyunrau

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There is a minor conflict between the US and Canada about the demarcation line north of Alaska. Canada argues that it should be an extension line going straight north from the Alaska Yukon border. While the US claims that the line should be perpendicular to the direction of the shoreline at the border. It creates a contested wedge. There's offshore oil and gas there -- which Canada is unlikely to develop (for environmental reasons), but the US may actually develop. On a global scale, it doesn't really matter, but every little bit matters right?

This extension will further extend this conflict. But in the grand scheme of Canada-US relations, it's still relatively minor.

jordanlund

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The whole Arctic Ocean is going to be problematic as:

a) Global warming makes it more accessible and

b) Fossil fuels elsewhere start running out.

The arctic will be the last gasp of the fossil fuel industry. Russia has been making noises about it for years.

https://polarjournal.ch/en/2023/02/21/russias-claim-to-north-pole-territory-officially-confirmed/

https://www.arctictoday.com/russia-gets-approval-for-the-data-behind-much-of-its-arctic-ocean-seabed-claim/

barsoap

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On a global scale, it doesn’t really matter, but every little bit matters right?

It's cheaper to just split profits than going to war over it. And yes the US and Canada absolutely would in principle, the UK went to war with Iceland over cod -- because the UK thought that Iceland would just cave, which they didn't, they won the thing. Not everything needs to be high-intensity, cannot be, as war is the continuation of politics by different means and, as see above: It's often just preferable to agree instead of spending resources on fighting. Similarly India and China mutually agreed to forego guns in the Himalayas (among other things, risk of avalanches) and fight with sticks and stones. Dunno if I should count Canada and Denmark (as protector of Greenland) and their liqueur war over Hans' Island, they didn't even earnestly try to get each other drunk.

MonkderZweite

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I vote for Canada on ecological grounds.

Grimy

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Isn't this the kind of shit that everybody gets mad at China for doing? Seems a bit hypocritical.

ShittyBeatlesFCPres

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China’s claims are way more egregious. I’m not defending America’s claims but they’re at least plausibly based on the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas. They might not be winning legal arguments but they’re plausible enough to be legal arguments.

Some of China’s claims in the South China Sea are so far from the UNCLOS that I’m surprised Rudy Giuliani isn’t involved. Like, they sometimes claim the same rights as archipelago nations. China, you may have noticed, is not shaped like the Seychelles.

They also claim some islands based on arguments like “A Chinese guy saw that island first.” But that isn’t a thing. With all due respect to Zheng He (possibly the greatest mariner of all time), the UNCLOS isn’t based on who called dibs.

PugJesus

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No, everyone gets mad at China for trying to redraw maritime borders with its neighbors.

This is legally highly questionable, but not nearly the same thing.

brianorca

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Everyone gets mad at China for creating a new artificial island in order to claim a huge swath of previously international waters.

Fades

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Literally no. If it seems hypocritical it’s because you don’t actually understand the significant differences between the two.

How the hell does a comment like this get 20+ upvotes.

gravitas_deficiency

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Lotsa tankies on lemmy

assassin_aragorn

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Most of this claim is perfectly reasonable. China is claiming international waters.

I do agree though that the claim around Alaska is way too large -- it looks a lot more like China's claim in the South China Sea. Take some small islands and claim the whole sea as yours.

brianorca

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Except those small islands near Alaska are natural, and have always been there, (On a human timescale, anyways) and were part of the original Alaska purchase. The one China uses to claim a whole sea was completely artificial, and built for the sole purpose of claiming new areas.

girlfreddy

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And Russia/China in Canada's north.

nekandro

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Well, but see, Chinese people aren't white.

cyberpunk007

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Some of that area is in the Canadian coast

Peppycito

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Alaska goes down way farther than you might think. You can see Alaska from Haida Gwaii.

Transporter_Room_3

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So are we doing SeaQuest DSV now? Have the mineral wars started yet?

FuglyDuck

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Be sure to keep an eye out for the Native American aliens.

afraid_of_zombies

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Fun fact: the show Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea had a season with three unrelated alien invasions all defeated by a single submarine.

SeedyOne

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I just want a talking dolphin, is that so much to ask?

afraid_of_zombies

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DSV is after the submarine went into space for some reason and came back? You wouldn't think a show about a submarine would have a season ending like that

Transporter_Room_3

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Yeah, I prefer to pretend there are only 1.9 seasons, not even the last episode counts.

Shit got weird.

And that's in a show with a talking dolphin, ghosts, smoke Hologram AI, and glowing poop.

FuglyDuck

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Ahaha… lol. Yeah. I think you forgot about the pirate chimp,

Transporter_Room_3

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Well, if I listed off all the wacky shit they did, I'd end up just summarizing the entire show!

I know what series I'm binging until I go back to work...

afraid_of_zombies

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I just remembered when they had that guy with a golden helmet (you wouldn't think gold would not make a good armor) that had the secret location of Atlantis. Also he didn't know until the last minute of the show so he was just done dude with a weird ass helmet claiming to be scion of the Atlantisns. Also he has some strange outfit on.

I almost want a deep dive into that guy. Imagine since birth your dad was always showing you this weird helmet telling you that your life mission was to find your long lost homeland. Like you apply for food stamps and list "questing for homeland" as your profession. You go on a date and show up dressed as the supposed royality of the Atlantians.

Her: So what do you do for work?

Him: Quest for my underseas homeland.

Her: Hobbies?

Him: Stamp collecting but you know also knitting my outfits.

What if one of the scions are gay or infertile or just doesn't want kids? Does he stream every single ancient aliens episode just in hopes they mention Atlantis? Does he sovereign citizen stuff claiming to have diplomatic immunity and use his crudely made passport to get around?

So so many questions.

FuglyDuck

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fair enough, lol.

afraid_of_zombies

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Was that the episode with the guy who claimed all the planets orbited in perfect circles and it was simply an error in measurement that made us think otherwise? He wanted Darwin because he wanted to know where the center of the universe was or something.

Transporter_Room_3

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CIRCULAR

EVOLUTION

https://media.tenor.com/jE9Wb9nUc7UAAAAM/jonathan-brandis-sea-quest.gif

FuglyDuck

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IIRC, they were looking for a terrorist or something, and the chimp was with a pirate/blackmarketeer type guy that they needed intel from. the guy requested payment in banannas or something.

afraid_of_zombies

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Oh yeah I remember that part now. He wanted a certain amount of money and bananas. Put the monkey on the zoom call

afraid_of_zombies

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Remember the time travel show where humanity was going to die out because people were playing 90s video games instead of fucking? And they couldn't go home without fixing it because if humans don't have a future they don't have a past. The Wesley Crusher computer kid figured that out, I am so glad they teach temporal mechanics when you get a computer certificate.

I also liked the episode when Wesley Crusher fixes the most complicated engineering project in history while mocking the head of project by suggesting that they just hit the computer screen.

JewKiller64

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US can suck my tiny dick