James Steinberg smells money -

As his family name gives away, he is an honrary descendant of the distinguished Israelites. In public roles -- be it in business or government -- these people are often seen as adhering to the most extreme form of capitalism, something they undoubtely are proud of. But the combination of extreme capitalism and exploitation of ressources -- and the pristine Arctic environment -- are a potential hazardous mix.

The world and its collective concience simply cannot afford oil-spills in these pristine environments - be it in Antarctica or the Arctic.
Antarctica is governed ny an international treaty, and no one are allowed to exploit any ressources or leave scrap behind. It is time to do the same for the Arctic. amtarctica has no indigenous people, but the philosophy of the people of the Arctic -- the Inuits -- has respect for nature- and disdain for exploitation -- at its core.

As the above article makes clear,- we already have an organisation set up with the explicit purpose of dealing with arctic matters - the Arctic Council
It was the Danes who set up a rival organisation, the socalled Arctic Five (A5), and held the first meeting in Ilulissatt in Greenland in 2008. [This meeting place is favoured by the Danes, when they want to show how advanced Global warming is. Several American legislators, like John McCain and Nancy Pelosy has been dragged up to this spot by the Danes,- and McCain came away convinced that Global warming was happening. However recent research shows that the Glacier is retreating due to warm surface waters entering the fjord. See below* ] The purpose was to exclude Finland, Sweden, Iceland and the 150,000 strong Inuit community, all if whome favors a protection of the Arctic - a rather 'modern' point of view, which is instantly favoured by millions of City dwellers around the Globe,- and as such is a very powerful political point of view with a lot of potential.

Hillary Clinton has criticised Canada for failing to invite indigenous groups and Scandinavian countries to talks on the future of the Arctic.

The US secretary of state said everybody affected by the changes brought about by climate change in the Arctic should have been included.

She was speaking at the start of the meeting near Ottawa.

Canada invited Russia, Norway, Denmark and the US to the meeting, but not Sweden, Finland or Iceland.

Mrs Clinton said all those "who have

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Documentation:

Ilulissatt Glacier is retreating due to warm subsurface waters

John McCain was there in 2006 and other American lawmakers have been dragged up to this glacier by the energetic Danish minister for Climate and Energy, Connie Hedegaard - in what she freely admitted, literally was a way of providing "the right background" for decisions on climate to be made. And they were duly impressed and came away convinced that 'Global warming' was taking place. Now a team of climatologists have proven that the glacier melts as a result of warm ocean currents melting it from underneath. The scientists believe that it was the same phenomenen that caused the glacier to retreat between 1929-1964.

Acceleration of Jakobshavn Isbræ triggered by warm subsurface ocean waters (.pdf)

DAVID M. HOLLAND* (New York University, New York, NY 10012, U.S.A.), ROBERT H. THOMAS (EG&G Services, Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia 23337, U.S.A.), BRAD DE YOUNG (Memorial University, St. John’s A1B 3X7, Canada), MADS H. RIBERGAARD (Danish Meteorological Institute, Copenhagen DK-2100, Denmark), and BJARNE LYBERTH (Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, Nuuk 3900, Greenland)

Observations over the past decades show a rapid acceleration of several outlet glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica[1]. One of the largest changes is a sudden switch of Jakobshavn Isbræ, a large outlet glacier feeding a deep-ocean fjord on Greenland’s west coast, from slow thickening to rapid thinning[2] in 1997, associated with a doubling in glacier velocity[3]. Suggested explanations for the speed-up of Jakobshavn Isbræ include increased lubrication of the ice–bedrock interface as more meltwater has drained to the glacier bed during recent warmer summers[4] and weakening and break-up of the floating ice tongue that buttressed the glacier[5]. Here we present hydrographic data that show a sudden increase in subsurface ocean temperature in 1997 along the entire west coast of Greenland, suggesting that the changes in Jakobshavn Isbræ were instead triggered by the arrival of relatively warm water originating from the Irminger Sea near Iceland. We trace these oceanic changes back to changes in the atmospheric circulation in the North Atlantic region. We conclude that the prediction of future rapid dynamic responses of other outlet glaciers to climate change will require an improved understanding of the effect of changes in regional ocean and atmosphere circulation on the delivery of warm subsurface waters to the periphery of the ice sheets.

The blockquote that I included in my last post , was from the above article's first link, namely:

[CLICK] BBC NEWS, 30 March 2010: Hillary Clinton criticises Canada over Arctic talks

Hillary Clinton has criticised Canada for failing to invite indigenous groups and Scandinavian countries to talks on the future of the Arctic.

The US secretary of state said everybody affected by the changes brought about by climate change in the Arctic should have been included.

She was speaking at the start of the meeting near Ottawa.

Canada invited Russia, Norway, Denmark and the US to the meeting, but not Sweden, Finland or Iceland.

Mrs Clinton said all those "who have legitimate interests in the region", including indigenous peoples, should have been invited to the conference.

"We need all hands on deck because there is a huge amount to do, and not much time to do it.