P.S. my earlier comments were addressed to the critical situation in the North Pole but the rest of my comment is correct in that without cooperation there will be brutish and nasty and destructive completion for Artic-Anti-Artic resources- that is why we need cooperation and not militarization and nasty completion in the Polar regions of the world..

"Currently, there is the Amundsen–Scott South Pole American scientific research station with an airfield near the pole. While the Americans do not object to other planes using the field, they cannot refuel them, so Russia is creating its own fuel base near the South Pole. The base will be used by expeditions from Russia’s Institute of the Arctic and Antarctic." If the above statement is correct, the hyper militarization of the Artic has taken a new step and the fault lies with the Americans. It is truly shame that the Americans always want to have something others cannot access-- it is all about domination and control- rather than cooperation and sharing. Well, Russians are good in science and technology and now they will built their own refueling base-- and who is to blame for this increased competition and the militarization in the Artic? As the nation with the least claim to the Artic continental shelf, the Americans want to secure increased access to Artic resources by using military might. The denial of refueling access to the Russian was based of creating American exclusive access of the Artic through military might. Why Americans do not bother reading the History of Russia. But of course, the Americans do not seem to know the Russians are Artic people and they cannot be excluded or undermined as some backward Third World country. With the mindset of Manifest Destiny, the U.S are seeking additional access to Artic continent shelf through military might. Russia can defend its Artic territory; the real victim of American Artic Manifest Destiny will be Canada- which is increasingly losing its Artic sovereignty not the Russians but to the Americans. At any case, one cannot help but admire the Russians for their heroism and technological feat and also for their foresight and determination against all the odds. IL-II has a famous and proud history. In WWII, The Germans called IL-II a flying tank.. http://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/I lyushin_Il-2

the IL series and Russia have saved the world in WWII. Russia is a force for good-- this one of many first first steps Russians have done in the advance of science, technology, commerce, humanity and progress..