An "opéra bouffe" is, in its entirety, a creation of the Western media. Russia was working at the moment on collection of the relevant information to be submitted to the relevant UN Committee. In this respect, it's very relevant what the Canada said regarding the Hans Island, which is a true dispute about sovereign territory, not an insinuated one.
And finally, even your amazingly authoritative information source - USA Today - mentioned that "Thick sea ice threatens to thwart the expedition" right at the beginning (2nd paragraph). I find it absolutely ridiculous then that you said "...North Pole, newly accessible as summer sea ice disappears...".
By the way, my personal opinion is that "exclusive economic zones" should never extend more than 200 miles. Beyond that everything is international. Carving up the world's oceans into national fiefdoms is a recipe for ecological disaster.
You can be snide about USA today if you like, but I gave you two other sources as well, and if you spent 5 minutes on the Internet you could easily find 50 more reputable sources that say the same thing.
As to the Arctic sea ice, the conclusion of scientists at the latest meeting of the American Geophysical Union this month is that summer sea ice will probably be completely gone by 2012. "My True Religion Is Kindness" -- The Dalai Lama
Regarding North Pole accessibility - it WAS heavily iced at the point in time when the submersion has occurred, and thus projections on what might happen by 2012 are completely irrelevant and cannot diminish the technical feat that has been accomplished.
Yes, I could spend 5 hours on the Internet and find the ultimate source of the words you've cited. It doesn't really matter if they were repeated in a cozillion other "sources" - it's nothing but a herd instinct in action.
