Arctic riches

Global Warming makes the Arctic more accessible to tourists and, more importantly, to resource exploitation machinery. According to the US Geological Survey, the Arctic, supposedly, has 13% of world’s undiscovered oil and 30% of its undiscovered gaz. The value of these resources increases as the supply for them decreases and as the demand for them rises.  In addition, the tension over the Arctic is magnified by the fact that there is no state that owns the Arctic region. As a result, political powers that surround Arctic try to push their boarders toward the Arctic resource treasury, while increasing their military presence in the Arctic region in an effort to secure their part of Artic resources.  Those powers are Canada, Denmark, Russia, Norway, and the United States. These countries search to maximize their control over some Arctic regions which lead, in some cases, to diplomatic conflicts. For example, in 2007,  when Russian scientists planted the Russian flag at the sea bed of North Pole, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister immediately described this action as inacceptable because, even though, it has not been proven yet, the North Pole is a part of Canadian territory and, therefore, its property. Needless to say that the Arctic question will generate more international conflicts in the future for it is clear that political powers will not miss the chance to acquire Arctic resources and, consequently, significantly shift the balance of political power on their side.