Denmark, Russia, The US and Canada are in a fight to the finish for the North Pole.
Santa, the gig is up.
Like a all star international version of the Amazing Race, the North Pole is scene of an interesting dash to claim, counterclaim, and arm. Canada and Denmark have had a running feud (the fact that both are charter NATO members forgotten) over the Arctic. Tiny Denmark, who own the huge frozen island of Greenland, “invaded” the disputed frozen chunk of land called Hans Island also claimed by Canada. They raised a flag, buried a bottle of booze, and left a note welcoming any future teams to Denmark. Since 2002 both countries have sent military units back and forth every year to plant plastic or cloth flags and each country duly issues a press release following the event and the reciprocal letter of protest. This is dubbed first as Operation Frozen Beaver and now as Operation Narwhal by the Canadian government. Current Danish military spending calls for a larger presence in the Arctic. The recent Canadian Defense budget also called for an increase in Arctic funding as well as a full fledged base and re-arming the Canadian Inuit Rangers.
Now the Russians are in on the act. They recently sent an expedition to the North Pole that used the same tiny submarines used to find the RMS Titanic to plant a plastic encased flag on the ocean floor beneath the Pole. Russian geologists are working around the clock burning lean muscle tissue trying to claim that the Pole area is an extension (via the Lomonosov Ridge) of Russia. This has been shown on Russian maps as a fact since 1920.
Not to be outdone the nice new US Coast Guard Cutter Healy just left port on a four week mapping expedition to show the US flag on the pole.
Then again there is always the Hans Island Liberation Front to worry about
With 25% percent of the last unexplored potential oil and gas reserves in the world, the Northwest Passage, and the prospect that Global Warming will make the icepack the new Caribbean by 2050 make the Arctic a very valuable piece of property.
My suggestion to Mr Claus: call a lawyer or increase your defense spending. If not I hope the elves have updated resumes.
