If we keep on dithering with Arctic Ocean policy, it will be the 'Arctic Desert' before the academics, politicians, military and bureaucrats get anything done - and by then it will be too late to do anything.
Clearly we need to establish our footprint on, over and under the Canadian arctic seas and lands, plus a little more to provide some negotiating space. Block the Northwest Passage, and interdict Davis Strait waters up to the western Greenland shores, just for starters.
If we can’t do it with our naval forces (surface and sub-surface), coast guard and air-force, then for God’s sake let’s make friends with someone who can. The Americans have half the Bering Strait; the Russians have the other, plus the entrée from the Atlantic. The Norwegians have Nansen, Amundsen and the rest of the ‘first footers’ and thus a toe-hold in the Barents and Laptev Seas up to around 85 degrees north latitude. The Chinese, Danes, and Finns, plus who knows which other interlopers, are manoeuvring against our interests.
Don’t forget that NAFTA confers rights on our commercial ‘partners’ to do it their way if we don’t do it their way!
Let’s make some friends having usable guts, not blubber, to make our stand in our arctic seas! Let’s put it into a commercial perspective “there’s no time for diplomacy” and no time to waste trying to invent ships that will be barely ice-broken if and when they ever go into service. We can buy them from people who have existing designs and competence!!!
