Canada and Russia Arctic Dispute Now Involves Santa

There may be a new cold war, but this one is well north of the border.

Canada and Russia have been feuding over territory in the Arctic Ocean that has been discovered to have vast energy resources.  But now, that dispute has turned towards Santa Claus.

According to AFP, majority-party Canadian officials have come out and said that everyone knows Santa Claus is Canadian. Canadian Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau elaborated his party's point, "His postal code is H0H 0H0."

That's the postal code Canada Post have assigned to Santa.  In Canada, children's letters are addressed to Santa Claus, North Pole, H0H 0H0, Canada.

Minority party leaders weren't quite as forceful about it, saying Santa is a citizen of the world.

But this issue is more than just figuring out the nationality of Santa Claus.  Canada wants to claim the North Pole as its own and has proposed to the United Nations that it officially lays claim to the territory.

Russia wants no part of that.  It wants the Arctic area for itself.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to build new combat units just for the Arctic territory to remain on constant combat alert.

Putin stated Russia was going to reclaim the territory it once possessed after this brief absence since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Could this be Cold War 2.0 or is this just a minor dispute?