The resolution of the Danish-Canadian Hans Island dispute is being recognized as an important step forward in resolving one of our enduring Arctic sovereignty disputes. But many of the media accounts of the dispute omit an important part of the story.
… In 2002, the good-natured exchanged of booze and flags that had characterized the dispute was completely upended when the Danes used an ice-capable frigate, the HDMS Vaedderen, to land troops on the island. Despite Canadian pleas not to repeat these escalatory actions, they did it again in 2003 with her sister ship, the Triton.
