Fun and games in the Arctic

The Border-Crosser has always been a bit sceptical about maritime cross-border co-operation. After all, how can it be truly cross-border if you cannot even see the other side of the border, never mind walk there?

Maritime border issues and disputes are another matter altogether, as this BBC story from yesterday shows(http://tinyurl.com/67foms). Evidently, this all links in with the oil and mineral resources that are beginning to be found up north, and it can cause some interesting clashes. Global warming is also having an impact, with some potential sea routes now much more attractive than in the past.

The tensions being created by Russia's current aggressiveness will not surprise most observers, but there are also disputes between the USA and most of Europe on the one hand and Canada on the other over access to the North-West passage (or Canadian internal waters as it is known north of the 49th parallel). There is also the example of a classic border disagreement between Canada and Denmark over Hans Island (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Island). When you get ministers flying in to bury bottles of alcohol on specific pieces of territory, you know this world is going slightly loopy.

Crazy, crazy cross-border maps

I have been browsing the back entries on the excellent Strange Maps blog (already mentioned below), and found this entry (http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/09/11/6-market-reef/#more-16) on an island jointly shared by Sweden and Finland, with a surreal border running across the island. Of course, being in the Nordic region, there is a perfectly sensible and pragmatic reason for the border. The island is also the westernmost point of Finland, which is pretty useless - but nevertheless strangely compelling - information.