Friday, July 24, 2015

Tensions Rising Between Canada And The U.S. Over Boundary Dispute

Zane Schwartz, Macleans: The tiny islands where Canada and America are at war

Tensions are rising again over the area called the grey zone, the last disputed lands between Canada and the U.S.—and this time, someone could get hurt

Canada is one wrong move away from a border war with the United States—if you believe a group of boiling-mad Maine lobstermen. Unfathomable as armed conflict between Canada and the United States seems, if it’s going to happen, it will be in the ocean between Maine and New Brunswick, where two tiny, treeless islands—North Rock and Machias Seal—are the last remaining disputed lands between the two countries.

The islands have no obvious value. They aren’t strategically located for military purposes and there are no natural resources to be mined. In fact, the islands’ primary residents are 5,800 pairs of nesting puffins. However, the waters around the islands, known by locals as “the grey zone,” because both Canada and the U.S. claim that part of the ocean, contain a lucrative lobster fishery.

WNU Editor: Trying to steal our lobsters .... as a Canadian citizen I am fuming ... grrrrr ....

1 comment:

Alex said...

WNU: Your lobsters?! Don't worry, we will sell 'your' lobsters back to you (for a premium).

Honestly though, did I miss something in the article, or was the title just misleading?

It sounds like a rather minor, and rather LOCAL dispute. Just split the area 50/50 before both sides start building artificial islands and move in the A2AD! :P