South Pole.

This is coolbert:

“This is tied to the fact that the broad dynamic in the world is changing,” he said. “There are more centers of gravity.” - - Kennicutt

From a recent article in the Stars & Stripes and thanks to the tip from Jungle Trader again as usual a headline that somewhat alarmist.

The Chinese are coming!!

OR at least an increased presence.

But not an issue that requires a hysterical response.

"China is boosting its presence in resource-rich Antarctica"

"Antarctic Treaty members, which include the U.S. and China, have agreed not to exploit Antarctic resources until 2048, but there is nothing to stop them doing geographical surveys"

"China already has as many permanent research stations as the U.S. in Antarctica — including the Great Wall Station on King George Island off the Antarctic Peninsula, Zhongshan (Sun Yat-Sen) Station in the east and Kunlun Station in the interior."

"Now the Chinese appear poised to start work on a fourth station close to the main U.S. base — McMurdo Station — in a part of Antarctica known as the Ross Dependency"

. . . .

"the Chinese efforts are part of a broader dynamic that has seen several other nations, such as India, Brazil and South Korea, become major players on the ice in recent years."

Right, increased presence by nations that do not have a historical link or a territorial claim [claims in now abeyance for some time by treaty] to Antarctica NOT a bad sign. Just merely denotes that many nations including South Africa, India, Brazil,. etc., conduct research of value to all mankind and this cannot be bad! "More centers of gravity" indeed!

The consensus without question is that ever since the IGY [International Geophysical Year] of 1959 Antarctica has been A GREAT INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS STORY AND HOPEFULLY IS THE MODEL FOR ALL FUTURE GREAT INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS STORIES? No military presence but tangential and very limited.

Those last two military expeditions of the southern most continent the German expedition just prior to the start of World War Two [WW2] and the American Operation High Jump in the aftermath of the same conflict.

Resources if indeed present in abundance perhaps should not and also perhaps cannot be extracted but at a cost to the environment that would be devastating. Keep that area of world free of development for posterity in perpetuity surely there must be a better way to have "growth".

See at these links previous Military Thoughts blogspot entries the topic of which was Antarctica:

http://militarythoughts.blogspot.com/2007/02/this-is-coolbert-model.html

http://militarythoughts.blogspot.com/2008/02/this-is-coolbert-something-fishy-here.html

http://militarythoughts.blogspot.com/2008/02/this-is-coolbert-i-see-that-president.html

coolbert.