Russia Claims the North Pole... Everyone Else Rejects the Claim

The recent Russian attempt to claim the top of the world for their own has been baffling to me. It seems like nonsensical attempt to claim land that the international community has already declared... well... international. And when Russia already has millions of unexplored square miles in Siberia, why claim more generally unliveable square miles in another icy wasteland?

However other articles (including one no longer online - grrrrr!) clarify the story. This quest for more land, while extremely unpopular with the rest of the world, is HUGELY popular within Russia. It is a way for the government to stoke public opinion and seem powerful and effective... without having to actually DO anything. They can claim this new land and extend the "Russian Empire" in the eyes of Russians, without risking war or the international balance in the eyes of the rest of the world. One might call it a shrewd political stunt.

Here's hoping it remains purely a stunt, and does not eventually blossom into a new expansionist Russia.