"What Germans? What cruise ships?' "

[DogPoundPup]

It's not that easy for hundreds of outsiders to suddenly sneak up on Barrow, considering how the northernmost town in the United States has neither a port nor a road to help them get here. Newcomers pretty much have to arrive on a big noisy plane.

Which is why nearly everyone in this historic Inupiat community was surprised last fall when they woke up to find about 400 German tourists walking around town. How the heck did they get here?

The answer?

They sailed from Europe to Barrow the short way -- via the suddenly ice-free Canadian Arctic -- after the fabled Northwest Passage opened completely last summer for the first time in recorded history.

"Yes, that was a surprise," North Slope Borough Mayor Edward Itta said Thursday, standing on the Barrow airport tarmac.

But not just for the townspeople. Commanders with the U.S. Coast Guard stationed far to the south in Juneau and Kodiak were surprised as well.

"They said, 'What Germans? What cruise ships?' " Itta recalled with a laugh. "And I said, 'They're here.' "

Nowadays, the Coast Guard is here too -- responding to mounting evidence that the Arctic is becoming more navigable each summer by extending regular patrols into the Chukchi and Beaufort seas for the first time ever.
http://www.adn.com/news/environment/story/489973.html

[Kutjara]

1. Well, now that the Arctic is open for business...

...I wonder how long it'll be until the first Arctic War? Five years? Ten?

[annabanana]

2. Oh that can't be good. . .

All you have to do is look at a map of the earth from above the North Pole and consider the possibilities.

[Arctic Dave]

3. The Coast guard is making a show in the Arctic Ocean.

They have a group of about twenty of them taking up quarters in Prudhoe Bay. I haven't seen any large ships, just small patrol boats.

[northofdenali]

7. Don't forget all our leftover BMEWS sites up here - PLUS

the "added security" for the Pipeline, ANWR (still hope of drilling Repukes?), the new missile sites at Delta, the NOAA and University missile sites, Ft. Wainwright, Eielson, Elmendorf, Ft. Richardson, the missile site on Kodiak ........

I say we secede, start a "war" and siphon off some of the big bucks from Iraq. The Republic of Alaska and Yukon occasionally sounds good - especially if McCain steals the election.

USAF (only, not Army, Coast Guard, Marine, state Guard/Air etc.) Sites and remote sites Alaska:

[Ian David]

4. Anyone remember that movie with the woman from "That's Incredible" ...

... where World War III starts over Russians attacking an Alaskan Oil Pipeline pumping station?

[Ian David]

5. World War III (1982) (TV)

Plot:
Soviet paratroopers drop into Alaska to sabotage the oil pipeline in retaliation against a United States grain embargo... more | add synopsis

Dated But Interesting, 3 September 1999
Author: Eric-62-2 from Morristown, NJ

Thankfully, this 1982 miniseries no longer has any contemporary relevance unless you're doing a study of Cold War era movies (I won't comment on the dated aspects of the political outlook, since I've done that with other movies like "2010" and "Dr. Strangelove"). I have to wonder though if the previous reviewer is confusing Brian Keith's performance in "Meteor" with this one, because that was the film where he spoke only Russian. In this one, it was just accented English.

Rock Hudson is credible as the president, though there's really not much to brag about from the rest of the cast. I do have to give the producers credit for their metaphorical depiction of the end. Gil Melle's music accompanying the images is probably the most frightening sounding I've ever heard in a TV score. It's much more eerily effective than the graphic attempts at realism in "The Day After" (and reminiscent of the ending of "Fail Safe").

More:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084919/#comment





Also:

World War III is an ambitious if unnecessarily protracted speculative TV movie. Set in a "future December," the film prophesies an American grain embargo levied on Russia. US President Rock Hudson is entreated by the Soviet higher-ups to drop the ban; meanwhile, a group of renegade Russian military officers begin sending expeditionary forces into Alaska. While the countdown to Doomsday begins, the film insists upon cutting back to several expendable romances in both the American and Soviet camps. Boris Sagal, the original director of World War III, was killed in a freak helicopter accident while on location. To make up for lost time, the production was moved to the soundstages of Zoetrope Studios and overseen by ultra-efficient TV director David Greene. Part Two finds novice American president Rock Hudson trying to effect an honorable peace with Soviet premiere Brian Keith. But insurgent military officers endeavoring to seize the Alaska Pipeline as a bargaining chip continue to escalate the hostilities. It develops that the fate of the world may rest in the hands of American colonel David Soul. Also appearing is Cathy Lee Crosby, endearingly miscast as an intelligence officer. A heart-stopping surprise twist brings World War III to a close. While the film has its moments of genuine suspense, one can't help but feel that World War III would have been better an hour or two shorter--or at least with a few of the subplot romances removed. Originally running four hours, World War III was telecast in two parts on January 31 and February 1, 1982.

More:
http://www.answers.com/topic/world-war-iii-film-1?cat=entertainment

Trailer on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfqZDcLEiWA

[formercia]

8. Russia claims Alaska is Russian Territory

The sale to the US was a fraudulent contract, thus null and void.

Just musing, but it could happen.

[Igel]

6. For compulsive Arctic ice-pack watchers.

http://igloo.atmos.uiuc.edu/cgi-bin/test/print.sh?fm=08&fd=13&fy=2007&sm=08&sd=13&sy=2008