HAS THIS BEEN THEIR PLAN ALL ALONG? CHANGE THE CLIMATE TO MELT THE GLACIERS AND THEN TAKE THE PRECIOUS, PRECIOUS MINERALS?

This, countries and companies are aggressively pursuing land rights in the arctic as we speak, land that is currently covered in ice and inaccessible.

I wonder how long it takes for news like this to start actually changing economies...you know, when land value in south Florida starts plummeting.

Likely to thaw out the frozen tentacled beast trapped within.

I just hope the USA/EU coalition is prepared for the Battle of Hoth against Russia who clearly have an advantage in this situation.

Well they've been adapting to desert-urban warfare at 110 degree temperatures the last 25 years, so... yeah.

Actually Cena, the fight now is over the new trans-arctic shipping lanes that are opening up as the ice melts. Read this study put out by the US Navy around 2012 called "Arctic Road Map".

http://www.navy.mil/docs/USN_arctic_roadmap.pdf

Future fighting over the antarctic region will require another study....wait for it.

I mention it because they are planning to make you a part of that fighting. Exciting times, eh?

I've been well aware of continued exploration in the Arctic. Shell is exploring for oil in the Bearing Sea and the Coast Guard will have to adapt to the new traffic coming from the Northwest Passage. It'll really stretch out search and rescue resources.

The denial is really mind boggling when big business and the military know its going on and planning ahead. Of course they'll say the change is 100% natural.

I don't know about actual fighting. Probably a lot of jockeying like what happens over maritime boundaries in east and southeast Asia.

A few months ago, I would have agreed with you. Now I am not so sure. Vlad does seem to be trying to put the SU back together. "We're gettin' the band back together, man!"

On a positive note it will be good having Russian villains back on the big screen. Jihadists just don't cut it. They're always just portrayed as frothing savages and lack the sophistication and cunning of the old Russian super-villain.

Plus, I know from prior experience that having the Russians around helps to reduce the number of possible options available for American action. Churchill once famously observed, "America can always be counted on to do the right thing: after exhausting all other available options". So you can see immediately how that can improve things here. Without the Russians, we seem to have problems getting to that end state.

I was all happy with us being the world's Russians.

Cena, if you ram a boat with your boat, promise you'll share the video. We need a Russian Boat Bumpin' tag badly.

Speaking of the Coast Guard and Russia, how's the Coastie recruitment these days, Cena? Do you know if they accept veterans with prior service-connected medical discharges?

I'm wondering because I'm still in the inactive reserves, so if WWIII kicks off, I'll most likely be called up again... and frankly, I'd rather be in the Coast Guard this time around, less chance of being nuked when you're on a boat.

I don't really know much about the recruitment process. I assume they have similar physical standards as the other branches, because I went through MEPS like everyone else. It would depend on the state of your previous medical issues. Let me know about it. It would be great to have you in the Wonderbolts... I mean the Coast Guard.

It's not too bad: a collapsed arch and severe range-of-motion issues in both of my ankles. The biggest problem, at least as far as the military was concerned, is that I can't run any more - or rather, I can, but I pay for it afterwards. For example, a simple two mile run, even with orthopedic sneakers, I can finish it but I won't be able to walk for about a week. I don't know if you know much about permanent profiles and medical stuff - dear God, I hope you don't, stay as far away from that bullshit as possible - but I am eligible for alternative PT. I can still do cardio, biking and swimming especially, but the Army loves their running and marching... and I assume the Coasties do too? The running, at least? I can't imagine running would be all that useful on a boat, but the Navy does running so it would stand to reason that the Coasties do the same. Anyways, biking and swimming are fine, and the Army does offer those as alternatives to the two-mile run for permanent profile guys... but that's usually reserved for gimpy old officers, or for highspeed combat vets who are missing both their legs. I had neither the time in service nor the rank to make it worth the Army's bother.

I really doubt it'll come to war, at least between the US and Russia, but my guess is they'll pull in as many people as they can find on as many pretexts as they can muster if it does come down to it. I don't really *mind*, I signed up knowing I had a ten year bid regardless, and as much as I'm opposed to the idea of war with the Russians, if Americans are being sent over there, fuck the hippies, I'll go, too! It's the least I can do, especially in light of how useless I was during my first stint in the Army. But having been home for a number of years now, I've grown rather accustomed to the idea of not actually being killed, at least not unless I'm being paid six-figure contractor dollars. I love the ocean (I can't stand being anywhere other than the coast), and the Coast Guard seems to do a lot of nice humanitarian missions, so... I dunno. Just brainstorming. I think "make plans to join the Coast Guard" would be a more sensible doomsday plan than "buy a bunker and stock it full of bullets and Bibles".

Not looking forward to the exodus of retardation...

Don't forget Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana. Soon all of those people will go north and bring their hatred and how shall I put this...raving pig ignorance with them. So that's good.

Atlanta is at a decent elevation so it'll really be a lot of stupid settling there.

I am certain that the compassion of people will easily allow for a section of Manhattan to be turned into a new land for the good people of Alabama. They can call it Strawhattan, and everyone will live in peace.

Just like Palestine!

It's called New Jersey.

Poverty is an amazing anchor. Hopefully, places like Vidor, Texas will remain firmly rooted so their white-supremacist inhabitants have no choice but to evolve gills or drown.

We'll see shanties along the ever-shrinking coastland. Unless they hit the lotto, the majority isn't moving anywhere. It'll be like the deep Appalachians, except with more polluted salt water.

The United States of Kentucky. Oh yes, God, work the shaft.

On the contrary, I'd say it shows a lot of knowledge of the geological timeline.

Does shit change? Of course. Has it ever done so this fast? No.

Will you die someday? Yeah. With that in mind, can I stab you in about a week? If you protest that this is somehow wrong, you don't know anything about biological life cycles. You won't be the first to die and you won't be the last, so what's the big deal?

We're royally fucking up the environment. While the climate has changed in the past, how is working to mitigate those changes or not helping them to happen even faster a bad thing? I'd rather not doom future generations to a resource-sparse planet of whipsaw weather just so some assholes can drive more SUVs or a bajillionaire can squeeze more into a trust fund.

Earth will cancel those for us.