New talks have begun in Ireland to discuss the quotas regarding shared stocks of cod & mackerel between the EU & Norway. Scotland has strong fishing interest in the North Sea. The negotiations are more difficult since Norway isn’t part of the EU.
Greenland wants to protects its rare earths while diversifying its economy. The article from the BBC quotes the prime minister, Kuupik Kleist, saying Greenland won’t favour the EU over China. Greenland seems to be asserting its independence from Denmark by using its natural resources. This is facilitated by the acceleration of Arctic melting; now the prime minister says Greenland’s opened for business to anyone respecting its requirements. I think he should look at Africa & be very worried. The tar sands in Alberta should also be another warning.
Check this out, it’s an interesting portrait of Galya Morrell; she basically does what I hope to achieve with this blog: to highlight & help “northern nation” of Arctic denizens. She has invaluable insights: accept & adapt.
One aspect involving climate change & the Arctic I’m very interested, or shall I say concerned, is the possibilty of conflicts arising. My guess is that the Arctic countries will see an increase in trade wars, like this mackerel wars involving Iceland & the UK. The article from the Guardian illustrates how the economy is becoming so interconnected. Iceland & the Faroe Islands send their fish to be processed in the UK: the Scottish skippers support the ban & obviously, the processors don’t. This possible ban also backs a point I made previoulsy, i.e., some Nordic countries – the Faroe Islands & Iceland – aren’t part of the European Union, they’re outliers.
I’m still feeling my way around, so posts might be eclectic & weird for a while. But this one from the BBC about garlic smuggling touches on a few points I’m interested in. The differences at the political level is one of them. The other is how the Nordic countries are at the same time part of Europe & not. In a sense most Arctic countries are on the side lines – the USA doesn’t really count – & we learn to live on the fence, as it were.
Arctic PowerOur 