The Arctic Summit being held outside Ottawa. Iceland, a member of the international Arctic Council, has been left out of the talks, and has already voiced its annoyance over the snub. Sweden and Finland, members of the International Arctic Council, are also absent.
The European Union was recently blocked by Canada and others from gaining even "observer" status. The Inuit, who will have to live with the consequences of any new government policies, and other aboriginal groups, are also irritated by their exclusion.
The talks were supposed to be informal with discussions on how to explore "new thinking on economic development and environmental protection" in the polar region.
The Arctic Summit is being held just ahead of a two-day meeting of G8 foreign ministers, and one cannot help thinking there’s a thought behind this. When politicians meet beforehand and exclude certain others it usually means that deals are being made, shadowy policies drawn and some sort of consensus reached in order to have a unified voice in some following preceding.
Expedited investments in northern infrastructure by all five Arctic nations have been in the works for a long time as they prepare for increased activity in the region, including tourism, oil and gas exploration and trans-Arctic shipping.
Whenever there are resources up for grabs there will be a power struggle and while our economic calamities continues I see no reason why the elitists will not look for new areas to exploit, so the Arctic probably looks like a tasty buffet.
In other words this seemingly harmless exclusion and talks may actually be a prelude to something more sinister and serious.
The best thing that could be done here is to let the market buy and sell Arctic as it wishes. When government gets involved you know that they will screw it all up.
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