Russians testing Canadian airspace

[eyepop]

China is the one that really scares me given they have no geographical claim unlike other countries with borders to the North, but they have a lot of military and economic might. When it comes down to it, there really is nothing Canada can do to stop other countries from going in, drilling, and extracting resources - what are we going to do? Fight them with our 35 planes? Not going to happen. We need to pick a side to help defend our rights, and the only logical one is the US, as I don't see Russia or China giving a rat's behind about Canada getting one penny out of any resources buried under the frozen tundra up there. The US might not either, but at least there is a diplomatic relationship with them and a long history of friendship.....

..so far.

[Captain Awesome]

Case in point the cf-18's may be 30 years old but the tu-95's are nearly 60 years old.

Actually, you're wrong here. While CF-18 are outdated rust buckets, TU-95 are great airplanes. Don't think just because it's old, it's useless. Long range bombers technologically don't age very fast like fighters, and usually serve for a very long time. Tu-95 is extremely valuable due to payload, range, and speed.

Same with B-52 Stratofortress that US used for many decades.

[tsu]

Heavy bombers don't age because there obsolete from ICBMs and guided munitions and mostly used for political saber rattling.

[rideforever]

stratofortress sounds bad-ass

[Captain Awesome]

Heavy bombers don't age because there obsolete from ICBMs and guided munitions and mostly used for political saber rattling.

Sorry, but you're wrong here again.

[Mutha]

Nothing to fear from the Russians. Now the Chinese, that's a different matter. Be afraid, very afraid.

[Woodenhead]

This is all about Arctic ownership/sovereignty.

Does the fact that our territory is close mean it's partially ours?

That's a big question mark. Russia is very close to North Pole as a well. So a lot of European nations. And US. If Canada things that North Pole is theirs, they're dreaming.

The way they determine who it belongs to is indeed geography, but it's the continental shelf. Problem is that the Arctic Ocean floor is not mapped very well - so nations with a stake in this are racing to map the area first & submit their findings to an international panel (UNCLOS). Basically, the best map wins. There's a time limit, too, and it's getting close.

Very basic simple overview, but that's the gist of it. Here's a link for more info. I won't even get into the Canadian Northwest Passage sovereignty dispute...

About our new fighter jets: I would have opted for a few less & gotten a high-quality military icebreaker. Read the link & google around about what I just posted if you're curious as to why.

[sobrohusfat]

What exacltly are Canada's relations with Russia that they would feel so free to give us the intimate rub-up, 50 or so times, with BOMBERS!?! How rude. Other than giving them directions with our airforce, haven't we ever called them up and told them to just knock it off?

i feel strangely violated.

Sooo. Russia's developing new muscle and China's developing new feelings of entitlement... tic toc ...tic toc ...

[Woodenhead]

^ I guess you entirely missed my post. That's what it's about. This has been going on for a while. And it was hardly a surprise or anything to worry about - just a little chest-puffing to show the Russians can lay claim to the Pole. There's been some back-and-forth ever since August '07, when the Russians placed a flag on the seabed at the North Pole - sparking a bit of a war of words between (then Foreign Affairs Minister) Peter Mackay & Sergey Lavrov (the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs).

Peter MacKay said of the Russian flag expedition: "This is posturing. This is the true north strong and free, and they're fooling themselves if they think dropping a flag on the ocean floor is going to change anything. There is no question over Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic... You can't go around the world these days dropping a flag somewhere. This isn't the 14th or 15th century."

A few more links in a bit of a timeline fashion (note article dates):
1
2
3

Again, none of this is new or surprising, and hardly anything to do with China or war or whatever I've seen some posts suggesting.

[WhatThe]

Russian bombers have been probing us and Alaska since the coldwar, And vice versa. It's posturing and assesment of each others defense capabilities.

[nolanrh]

All this talk about "getting America on board"... NATO and the UN for that matter are all already committed to defending Canada in the event it is attacked. There is no way NATO is going to let someone setup shop in the Arctic.

[WhatThe]

All this talk about "getting America on board"... NATO and the UN for that matter are all already committed to defending Canada in the event it is attacked. There is no way NATO is going to let someone setup shop in the Arctic.

true. We also have NORAD, which in essence, a sperate defense policly fir north America.

[WhatThe]

NORAD is the bi-national U.S.-Canadian military organization responsible for the aerospace and maritime defense of the United States and Canada. NORAD, created by a 1958 agreement between Canada and the United States, provides advanced warning of impending missile and air attacks against its member nations, safeguards the air sovereignty of North America, and maintains airborne forces for defense against attack.

[ctd01]

What exacltly are Canada's relations with Russia

Crosby vs Ovechkin

[Lycoming]

I interpret all this as a situation much similar to the high school playground. The US, UK and Russia have to act tough since thats how they started and they have to maintain their image.
China is the 'new kid' and so has to act tough or someone will steal their lunch money.
Canada and Denmark, Scandanavia etc. all the 'cool' nerds that people like but aren't really concerned about when muscle flexing arrives.

In a world list Canada, Denmark and Scandanavia I'm sure have way higher standards of living than the US Russia and China. Much like high school, just give the muscle flexers what they want, the grocery store will be hiring when the graduate ;)

Seriously though - war over resources - everyone loses.
Someone who is bigger than us takes the resources and we have to buy them - Life goes on.

I'll take paying for resources over nuclear holocaust any day.

It's so shameful that if the world spent it's combined military budget for a year on space exploration we'd be on the moon and Mars already and could fight over 3 planets instead.