Talk:Wrangel Island
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[edit] Gulag
http://www.statedepartmentwatch.org/GulagWrangell.htm
Though it's spelled wrong it's no doubt it's the very same island...
[edit] Canadian occupation during War of Encirclement
Anyone around here ever heard of this? I'll try and find the details; during the anti-Soviet Wars of the 1920s Canada's share in the "encirclement" of the communist menace was the completely useful task of seizing and holding Wrangel Island. Why, lord knows, and how long they stayed, I can't remember; but I'll find out and be back.Skookum1 04:43, 30 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Wrangel not claimed by US
Wrangel Island is not claimed by the US. The US State Department says that the island was never claimed by the United States (http://www.state.gov/p/eur/rls/fs/20922.htm). This is the official position of the United States government.
Of course, those familiar with John Muir might remember that he was part of an 1881 expedition by a predecessor of the Coast Guard that claimed the island for the United States (http://www.sierra-club.org/john_muir_exhibit/frameindex.html?http://www.sierra-club.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/cruise_of_the_corwin/ -- see Chapter 15). Four decades later, small groups of fur hunters from Canada and then the United States set up camp on the island for one year each. But for one Inuk Indian, the Canadians perished of the cold. The Americans were evicted by the Soviet Navy. They were awarded compensation for their lost furs by an international court in 1959, some 35 years after the incident.
Despite these, in December 1984, the State Department found that the United States government had never made any formal claim to the island. The United States has maintained this position since that time. For that reason, Wrangel Island was not addressed by the 1990 US-USSR Maritime Border Agreement.
There is misinformation regarding the status of Wrangel Island being disseminated by a right wing faction that calls itself State Department Watch. The State Department web page linked above is the record of fact. Competing assertions of fact by the Wall Street Journal and SDW are simply wrong.
In sum: The United States does not claim Wrangel Island. The State Department claims that the United States has never claimed Wrangel Island. The 1990 Maritime Border Agreement did not specifically address the status of Wrangel Island. Wrangel Island is in the Russian maritime zone. The US Senate has ratified this treaty. The USSR and Russian Federation provisionally accepted the treaty without ratification. The United States considers the agreement to be in effect and to control US-Russian relationships on the matter.
