The Bering Strait Crossing: A 21st Century Frontier between East and WestThe Bering Strait Crossing is the epic story of the Intercontinental Divide. The ancient waterway - when the fog clears over the Diomede Islands - is among the world’s most stunning vistas. This is where the 53-mile wide strait, named for Danish explorer Vitus Bering (1681-1741), separates four continents across the Europe-Asia landmass and the Americas. Extremes of climate, isolation, and geopolitical tension have all interfaced to create the perception of a frozen limbo at the edge of the world. Yet the Bering Strait is the world’s geographical crossroads - linking East with West - for nowhere else on the globe is it possible to cross the Pacific Rim between Asia and the Americas. In the modern era, various schemes have been proposed - rail, ferry, tunnel - by which to cross the strait. Since the end of the Cold War, a scheduled air service has been in place. The strait remains undefeated in terms of a terrestrial link between the USA and Russia - so far. The author uncovers a world-shaping revelation: that the Bering Strait has the potential to become a global shipping nexus via the Northwest Passage and the Northern Sea Route between Europe, North America, and Asia. The self-induced amnesia of the long Cold War years is yielding to a fresh outlook between East and West across the strait. In a world thirsty for energy resources and trade, the prospect for US-Russian cooperation across the northern Pacific Rim is tantalising in its multiplicity - and vastness - with profound implications for the global economy. In this twenty first century, the Beringia corridors (N-S, E-W) have the potential to unite the world. |
From inside the book
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... anyway, that no such attempt is likely to be made any time soon. 4 Population Reference Bureau. The article based on the PRB's statistics “How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth” by Carl Haub first appeared in Population Today in 1995 ...
... anyway ? The ear seems to recoil at the timidity of it all . Then again , what are detractors for unless , in their way , to inspire ? Koumal has a ready rejoinder : the crossing was not regarded as futuristic in the late 19th or early ...
... anyway , known here on Earth as the archipelagos of Melanesia , Micronesia , and Polynesia . A craft returning from space gains an overwhelming impression of some enormous flooded place , a water planet home only to creatures of the ...
... anyway ) of a suicide note written on behalf of the unwary recipient . Bering was a sea captain , not an explorer , but duty came first . The rationale behind the expedition ? The opening - up of untouched , fur - yielding regions ...
... anyway , had a formidable advantage with the overland settlement of the Pacific coast that was to become California . The Russians , directing operations from Moscow and St. Petersburg , and then projecting these across and beyond the ...
Contents
11 | |
19 | |
31 | |
40 | |
A Footnote to Gvozdev | 55 |
Captain Cooks Third Voyage | 61 |
Beyond the Two Islands Return to the Sandwich Islands | 73 |
W H Seward has his Way | 89 |
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The Bering Strait Crossing: A 21st Century Frontier between East and West James A. Oliver Limited preview - 2006 |