DailyDirt: Imagine There's No Countries...
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
If you've caught up on the Techdirt podcasts, you might have heard a brief mention of how Antarctica is split up and a bit of discussion on the possible ownership of the moon. The ownership of new lands will likely become a more important issue as the access to various inhospitable locations increases. Here are just a few links on claiming territories.- The United Nations Outer Space Treaty states that no nation can claim ownership over the moon. However, there's some ambiguity in the treaty that might allow for private ownership, and there are already some people trying to stake claims -- with millions of acres of lunar property already bought/sold. [url]
- The ownership of land in Antarctica is a bit tricky and governed by the Antarctic Treaty which sets up the continent as a scientific reserve. Seven countries have claimed parts of Antarctica, with overlapping territories claimed by the United Kingdom, Chile and Argentina. [url]
- Denmark is claiming to own about half a million square miles of the North Pole (about 20 times the geographic size of the current Denmark) -- after spending over a decade and $50 million in research to support its claim to the UN. Five countries have a claim to parts of the North Pole: the US, Russia, Norway, Canada and Denmark. [url]
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Filed Under: antarctica, geography, moon, north pole, south pole, space, space exploration, territory, treaties, united nations
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Mark my words, this will not end well. :P
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You can see posters on the sides of buildings downtown saying "Las Malvinas were, are, and will be Argentina's!" And the common man on the street firmly believes that the UK invaded the islands and massacred the Argentine civilians living there, and historical accuracy be damned. There's a cultural hatred for all things England down there that's hard to draw a parallel to for an American audience. Maybe the national feeling of anger against Arab terrorists for a few weeks, when 9/11 briefly brought us (mostly) all together, but this is something that's endured for decades.
I was there when Argentina lost to England in a World Cup match. It as not pretty, and in fact that was probably my single scariest moment living there. A big group of teens, maybe 10 or so, came up and surrounded me and a friend of mine, angrily asking if we were from England. Luckily, when we responded that no, we're Americans, their mood improved and they started laughing and congratulating us on Team USA's recent good performance in another match. (As if we had anything to do with that?) But it could have gotten real ugly.
So yeah. Should another territorial dispute with England actually turn into something real... it would be a big mess.
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anyone sue Denmark yet?
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i own it all
H.O.M.E.R.
home of meaningful extraterrestrial regions
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@5
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Get there first
We could easily transport linkable "shipping container" segments to create a lunar city. We'd have to be careful about lunar dust, though. Since there is no erosion on the moon, lunar dust tends to have sharp points, which would be ground down on earth.
And, best of all, if there is an emergency, the moon is only three days away, not months.
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