8 Jun 2011 – Norway and Russia

The Barents could become a valuable shipping route. Russia and Norway have agreed a deal to divide up their shares of the Barents Sea. The deal follows decades of negotiations between the two sides over how to divide the region.The accord will allow companies to explore for oil and gas in the 68,000 square mile area.
The agreement has been approved by the two countries’ parliaments and will be implemented on 7 July this year. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Norwegian counterpart Jona Gahr Stoere ratified the deal during a ceremony in Oslo on Tuesday. It splits the disputed part of the Barents Sea into two equally sized areas.
The region has become more accessible recently as global warming has caused the ice to melt. Analysts say the melting ice could open up new, shorter, shipping routes between Russia and Norway and Asia…
During the 1970s another life ago! living in N Norway was quite an experience. This part of Norway shares the border with Sweden, Finland and Russia. Iittala Glassware, Marimekko and meat were much cheaper in Finland and the drive there to stock up the freezer was worth the while. L&M used to have cute matching Marimekko nightgowns…
http://www.iittala.com/web/Iittalaweb.nsf/en/home http://www.marimekko.com/
Almost all of our relationships begin and most of them continue as forms of mutual exploitation, a mental or physical barter, to be terminated when one or both parties run out of goods – WH Auden