Ice lolly

The Russian explorer Artur Chilingarov has reached the North Pole and his expedition is planning to dive down to the seabed and plant the Russian flag, thereby claiming the Lomonosov Ridge as Russian territory. This Ridge stretches from Greenland to Siberia and is believed to contain vast reserves of oil and minerals. It seems such an outdated idea that a flag in the ground can represent national territory, one reminiscent of colonial days which was an era Putin was pooh-poohing only last week. Obviously colonialism is fine for Russia. If Denmark were doing this, I'm sure Putin would be on his high horse. Anyway, there's no internationally accepted sovereign claim to the North Pole. Russia, Canada, USA, Denmark and Norway have made claims to the Arctic based on the Law of the Sea which cedes each country a 200 mile economic zone around the coast but the closest land to the North Pole is Greenland which is outside the zone at 440 miles away and and the UN rejected the last Russian claim to it in 2002. Imagine what the environmentalists would say if Russia started blowing up the underwater ridge: more floods in Tewkesbury would be the least of it.