20050728

Foreign Policy via Google

This cracks me up - two countries - debating over a piece of land ABOVE the Artic Circle - by buying ad space on Google. Isn't this way the UN exists?

Robert

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The link to the story on CNN is here

Island squabble goes Google

Canadians, Danes debate control of Arctic rock

OTTAWA, Ontario (Reuters) -- A spat between Canada and Denmark over a tiny Arctic island has moved to the Internet, where a Canadian man is dueling an unknown opponent over who really owns the disputed lump of rock.

The two have placed online ads about which country controls the 1.3 square kilometer (half a square mile) Hans Island, situated between Canada's Ellesmere Island and Greenland, which belongs to Denmark.

Toronto author Rick Broadhead said he bought an advertisement on Internet search engine Google after spotting a Danish ad that said "Does Hans sound Canadian? Danish name, Danish island."

That ad linked to the Danish Foreign Ministry's Web site and a copy of a protest letter Copenhagen sent Ottawa after Canada's defense minister visited the island.

Broadhead's ad showed a large Canadian Maple Leaf flag, and it now carries the message: "Hans Island is Canadian."

"To my knowledge this is the first time that a squabble has ever broken out between two nations on Google," he told Reuters on Thursday.

Canadian newspapers are using the affair to generate summer entertainment -- one suggested Ottawa should set up a coffee and doughnut outlet on the rock, which is 1,000 km (620 miles) from the North Pole.

But some observers say the dispute could turn nasty if it turns out that Hans Island is sitting on rich mineral resources.

For the time being the two sides seem to have decided that a sense of humor is needed when discussing the matter.

"Notwithstanding the disputed area, the Canadian Foreign Affairs Ministry is allowing its cafeteria to sell Danish pastries as a goodwill gesture towards the Danish government and people," ministry spokesman Reynald Doiron said.

Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

3 comments:

Robert said...

I started following this story a couple of days ago - if nothing else to tease a Canadian friend about....

Robert said...

This one is still going - now the Canadian Navy is getting involved;

BBC Story Here

And I don't know what is scarier - the fact that Canada and Denmark are on the verge of fighting over this little rock - or that this story is getting coverage in the TEHERAN TIMES


Rob

Robert said...

The Canadian and Danish governments realized that summer is over and that they now have to go back to the real work of governing their countries. So they declared a truce in their spat over the Artic island - that no one cares about here