Both Russia and Canada have sent their powerful Northern Fleets to the Norwegian island of Spitzbergen. Why are both powerful navies interested in a small, unremarkably featured island in the Arctic Ocean? And are they turning their big guns and missiles outward or towards each other? Perhaps an old favorite US television show suggests an answer. I provide the following example for you to enjoy without any bias.
In Star Trek, the original series, one episode showed that the USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James Kirk, received orders from Starfleet to take a small fleet of starships to a nearby space outpost to guard it. The Klingons received a similar order. But what were they guarding? The secret of a planet whose core, mantle and inner crust was solid, virgin dilithium? Kivas and Trillium? A new source of unlimited energy? No.
They were guarding “Quatro-Triticale,” a new, highly productive strain of wheat. Thus began the Trekkies’ indroduction to those sweet, furry and also highly productive little Tribbles.
But Svalbard is not a space station, and it is so well-protected that no smuggler, not even the most creative Cyrano Jones, can find his or her way into it without approval. So what are the Russians and the Canadians doing there?
Perhaps this article received from SpaceWar.com might shed some answers.
Russian navy boosts combat presence in Arctic
by Staff Writers
Moscow (AFP) July 14, 2008The Russian Navy on Monday said it was boosting its combat presence in the Arctic, including near the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, amid increased international interest in the region.
“The Russian Navy has restored the presence of combat ships of the Northern Fleet in the Arctic region, including in the region of Spitsbergen,” the Navy said in a statement.
Navy spokesman Igor Dygalo was unable to say the last time combat ships were in the region, but described the latest patrols as part of a “significant expansion of the activities of the Northern Fleet.”
So what happened to the tribbles at the end of the show? Well, after those that remained alive showed extreme distaste for Klingons and infested the Enterprise, Engineer Scott transported them all to the departing Klingon ship, where they would “soon be no tribble at all.”
While watching Kirk getting swamped by a tidal wave of mostly dead tribbles was hilarious, I hope the Svalbard seeds fare much better than the Quatro-Triticale did.
Catch you on the backside!
Janice Manning
2012 and Planet X Bulletin
2 responses so far ↓
1 Are Arctic Power Countries Guarding the seed bank at Svalbard? | 2012 The Count Down // Jul 17, 2008 at 00:00
[...] Go to Source Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
2 Recent Faves Tagged With "svalbard" : MyNetFaves // Feb 22, 2009 at 14:50
[...] public links >> svalbard Doomsday vault First saved by themaxxca | 9 days ago Are Arctic Power Countries Guarding the seed bank at Svalbard? First saved by filipecalegario | 11 days ago Svalbard First saved by piroshiki | 34 days ago [...]