Russia has planted its flag on the North Pole seabed, under the Artic ice.  Here’s a picture, courtesy of NTV:

Cute, huh? 

I was going to write about this story in far more detail, but others have explained far better than I could the reasons why Russia is so keen on claiming the North Pole as its own, and why Canada, Denmark and all the others want it too (hint: oil, shipping lanes, global warming and nationalism all combined into one big messy frozen pie). 

While it’s been a fun story, Russia’s actions this week have been little more than expensive grandstanding. 

So, I’m off to watch telly instead. 

Clearly, one should not mess with a siberian squirrel:

Squirrels have bitten to death a stray dog which was barking at them in a Russian park, local media report.

Passers-by were too late to stop the attack by the black squirrels in a village in the far east, which reportedly lasted about a minute.

They are said to have scampered off at the sight of humans, some carrying pieces of flesh.

A pine cone shortage may have led the squirrels to seek other food sources, although scientists are sceptical.

[…] Komosmolskaya Pravda notes that in a previous incident this autumn chipmunks terrorised cats in a part of the territory.

Click here for more squirrel blogging at siberianlight.net.

Looks like the the toxic waste that was spilled into the drinking water in the Chinese city of Harbin is spreading northwards along the Songhuar and Amur rivers. One Russian city has already announced plans to shut down its drinking water supply:

Oleg Mitvol, deputy head of the Russian environmental monitoring agency Rosprirodnadzor, told the BBC that in Khabarovsk “the water supply will be shut off, because the purifying equipment cannot deal with benzene”.

He said heating would not be affected but tap water would be cut for a few days and fish from the Amur would also be contaminated.

“We expect the spill to arrive in Russia on 26 November and in Khabarovsk on 30 November-1 December,” he said.

However, Chinese officials said they expected it to take two weeks to reach the Amur river.

I wonder whether the Russian government will press a claim for damages? (Update 25/11: Yes, if this senator is to be believed).

The Moscow Times reports that UNESCO are becoming so concerned about the environmental safety of Lake Baikal that they are considering putting the Lake, already a World Heritage site, on their “in danger” list. And not just that, but they may even do so without the permission of the Russian government:

An evaluation team from the World Heritage Committee plans to visit the lake in late October and make a final recommendation on the designation, said Mechtild Rossler, the World Heritage Center’s Europe director.

“We’ve made our position to the Russian authorities clear” about the threats facing the lake, Rossler said by telephone from Paris. “The question is whether they want to take their obligations as signatories to the World Heritage Convention seriously.”

Up until now, a wood pulping mill in Baikalsk had been the main environmental problem facing Baikal, but UNESCO is becoming increasingly worried about the impact that the building of an estimated 500 illegal homes on the lakefront, and the proposed construction of an oil pipeline just north of the lake, the route of which is so close to the shore that:

“By Transneft’s own assessment, an oil leak along the present route could reach the lake in 20 minutes. The technology doesn’t exist to respond to a leak that quickly,” said Greenpeace’s Vazhenov.

The Pearl of Siberia, as Baikal is often called, is a place that is close to the heart of many Russians, a site of which they are extraordinarily, and justifiably, proud. Politically, it is by far the most sensitive environmental issue in Russia today. As in so many Soviet bloc countries, environmental movements were the fore-runners of protest against communist government, and moves to protect Baikal were an instrumental part of the development of environmental groups in the Soviet Union. Despite the government’s attempts in recent years to demonise environmental groups - particularly foreign groups, such as Greenpeace - an issue of this magnitude will, I believe, be viewed sympathetically by all Russians, and not just Siberians.

The Russian government is often - and rightly - accused of being in thrall to the oil industry but, in this case, I cannot imagine that they will let an oil pipeline run so close to the Lake, even if the cost of developing a different route does increase Transneft’s costs. In the face of a high level of public concern, for the Russian government to be seen to sitting idly by while greedy developers destroy Russia’s natural jewel would be a huge blow to its prestige and, if an external organisation were to so publicly shame them, the Russian government would be humiliated.