The Shotgun Blog
« Swift Boat Vets Fire Back | Main | I hope Kerry wins »
Monday, August 09, 2004
Der er et yndigt land
Canada's viking problem is back in the news though hints from the Royal Danish Embassy to Washington suggest there is little cause for alarm.
When borders were drawn between Greenland and Canada in 1973, Hans Island was ignored and since then both Canadians and Danes have claimed the island by hoisting their nation’s flags there. Rumour also has it that visiting Danes leave bottles of schnapps behind for the next troupe of flag-bearing Canadians, who leave bottles of whiskey in return…
Not that this particular piece of Danish/Canadian territory is frightfully high profile. Even Google scratches its head when asked for a map of the place. The Meatriarchy is sadenned that Canada has chosen conflict with a country with better beer than ours (isn't that anybody except Mexico?). The Geological Survey of Canada's Keith Dewing offers a thought. We could share Hans Island.
To resolve the dispute over who has claim to the island, Dewing suggests Canada and Denmark share Hans Island, which would then be half Nunavut, half Greenland - and a tourist attraction in its own right.
"They should put the border right in the middle. That would be the only place in North America where you could touch Canada and Europe," suggested Dewing.
Hans Island does not appear in on-line maps and if it were not for a lone satellite image I could not be certain quite where it is. I have a request. If the governments of Denmark and Canada are going to pretend to care about sovereignty over this uninhabited spot they could at least have the courtesy to send someone with a digital camera the next time they mount what can only be costly, time-wasting military expeditions to the place.
Cross-posted to Ghost of a flea
Posted by Ghost of a flea on August 9, 2004 | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d834515b5d69e200d8345688da69e2
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Der er et yndigt land:
» Der er et yndigt land from Ghost of a flea
Canada's viking problem is back in the news though hints from the Royal Danish Embassy to Washington suggest there is little cause for alarm. When borders were drawn between Greenland and Canada in 1973, Hans Island was ignored and... [Read More]
Tracked on 2004-08-09 9:09:09 AM
Comments
One of the early National Post stories that started this whole thing had a satellite map that showed the location of the island on the front page. I would assume a quick search at the public library would do the trick (being on the front cover, it shouldn't take that long).
Posted by: Kelvin | 2004-08-09 10:51:04 AM
Okay, I'm an idiot and I didn't realize that you actually saw that image. I blame sleep deprivation for reading that very line and then telling you to look up the image... ...arguably just made my Top 10 Stupid Things I've Done list.
Posted by: Kelvin | 2004-08-09 10:55:19 AM
I propose that we transfer all right title and interest in Hans Island to our Danish friends in exchange for MFN status on the price of Tuborg imports.
Posted by: alan | 2004-08-09 12:04:44 PM
> The Meatriarchy is sadenned that Canada has chosen conflict with a country with better beer than ours (isn't that anybody except Mexico?)
Now wait a minute! Beer? - Something I have quite a lot of experience with. Why are you excepting Canadian products from comparisons with Mexican beer? Frankly, I'd much rather have "una mas Dos Equis", with lime on the beach in Puerto Escondito on any particular day in February, than a Labatts Blue in Montreal at *any* time.
The only country I've found with a completely mouth-gagging horrible beer is New Zealand: Steinlager. (Augh. Splt. Gaa.)
Posted by: Mike | 2004-08-09 7:59:17 PM
Sources close to their location are now suggesting that it was all a mistake caused by a typographic error that was made by some Canadian and European bureaucrats who were distracted from the work they were paid to do by some problems they were having with one of the protection-racket money-laundering schemes they were running.
According to the UN, the correct name for the tract is "Han's Island"; progressivist historians from UNWHY document it as having been conquered by the Han dynasty in 45 BC. The International Criminal Court will be meeting to determine the reparations owed by Canada and Denmark, apparently because because some communists are offended by our hatred of typography.
And this just in, Dyane Adam is now insisting that the Canadian bureaucrats call it "L'île qui est possédée par Han de la Chine."
Posted by: Tony | 2004-08-09 9:11:08 PM
I'm still utterly puzzled why anybody gives a damn about a god forsaken, wind blasted, ice crusted,fundamentally useless rock poking out of water that's _just_ this side of liquid, in summer.
I agree with the above, let's the split the difference or something. Get Queen's Elizabeth and Magrete (sp?) over a nice cigar and some scotch and sign a silly document, so they they can get to lunch on time.
Posted by: Fred | 2004-08-10 6:42:59 AM
Mike: I was just trying to stir things up with the Mexican beer remark. And I understand lots of lime is the only way to tolerate Mexican beer but... seriously, who would sully a proper English bitter but dropping a slice of fruit into it? I am shocked more Canadians have not risen to the defence of the skunky crap we proudly call out own!
Posted by: Ghost of a flea | 2004-08-10 10:56:58 AM
Mike: I was just trying to stir things up with the Mexican beer remark. And I understand lots of lime is the only way to tolerate Mexican beer but... seriously, who would sully a proper English bitter but dropping a slice of fruit into it? I am shocked more Canadians have not risen to the defence of the skunky crap we proudly call out own!
Posted by: Ghost of a flea | 2004-08-10 10:57:36 AM
Flea :
> who would sully a proper English bitter but (by?) dropping a slice of fruit into it?
Oh, I dunno. Ask the next Brit that wanders your way about the history of a Lime and Lager.
Just in case anyone is feeling too nationalistic (I've SEEN how you guys can get over a beer commercial!), the point of the Mexican jibe was: where would YOU rather be in February, drinking ANY beer?! Montreal, with any Canadian brewery product? or in a hammock, watching the waves roll in from Japan on the Pacific side, waiting for the next perfect series of body surfing waves? Sigh. Those were the days...
[but I very much would like to read more Canadian opinions on an admitted failure to adequately patrol territory claimed as within your borders...]
Posted by: Mike | 2004-08-10 7:41:25 PM
It is with heavy guilt that I add my comment to this Gulliver's Travels Diplomacy disgrace while children are suffering and dying in misery and pain in so many places during our *enlightened* age.
*Hans Island is ours* announces Canada’s defense minister Bill Graham. The Danes express disappointment and present a letter of protest to the Canadian embassy.
What a pathetic and embarrassingly stupid example of primitive behaviour between two supposedly mature and moderate nations. Hope China does not get *rigid* re: Taiwan.
Is this nearsighted rigidity the example we want to set for China to settle differences with Japan and Taiwan?
Hans Island is closer to Greenland than it is to Canada.
Why does it seem like sharing this little three kilometer piece of rock is the obvious solution?
We couldn’t ask for a better partner in the Danes.
Hans Island is the ideal spot for a joint submarine and hydro monitoring station.
Is a joint venture with the Danes So impossible? Heaven help us if it is.
A lady professor of international affairs was droning on and on about how we must assert our sovereignty over Hans Island on CBC Radio yesterday. She sounded very much like a child earnestly grasping at a toy.
I realize that with global warming, Hans Island can become very important, but I still say freezing out the Danes is wrong. Joint ownership would be far more an advantage to Canada than otherwise.
It’s a disgrace that this ever became a public tiff in the first place. What ever happened to effective diplomacy anyway?
Must we always behave like knuckle-draggers?
Are we becoming more stupid as time goes by? Solidarity is important in the face off with Al-Qaida. The shame. ……. 73s TonyGuitar at BendGovt.blog.ca
Posted by: TonyGuitar | 2005-07-28 6:49:50 PM
TG, that's not a bad idea. We could quadruple Canada's arctic naval capabilities for the price of a couple of bottles of aqvavit: simply negotiate shared sovereignty with the Danes, get them liquored up at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, and then steal their boats.
It's important that we teach not only Denmark, but Danes everywhere, that if they squint at their map and announce that a tiny, featureless, uninhabited rock in the middle of frozen hell belongs to them, we will squint harder, and announce louder that it belongs to us. If they bend down to squint again, it's time to whip out the heavy artillery.
If Bill Graham's unconvincing visage making noises is as good as we can do right now, then so be it -- that will have to pass for Canadian vigour.
Because the Danes are the kind of enemy who only respect strength. We are paying the price now for not stopping them at Iceland many many many years ago.
Posted by: EBD | 2005-07-28 11:56:10 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.