How the Ukraine war gave Canada & Denmark a border

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The only sad part is that denmark and canadian soldiers in the area would stop getting their yearly imported wisky

As a Canadian, I was saddened when our war with a great little story behind it is over on the one hand, but on the other hand I think its really cool that Canada now technically shares a land border with more than just the United States, and a European power no less. Beyond that we have a much closer nautical border with France than most people would expect... Although that's just because France held onto a globally empire of tiny islands lol.

Little known is that just previously to the flare-up in the "Whiskey War", Denmark had been offended by the appointment of an unqualified political hack as Canadian ambassador to Denmark. Canada has a highly respected diplomatic corps. Usually they are well educated scholars familiar with the history and culture of the countries they are sent to, and have hard-nosed diplomatic experience in world conflicts. Normally, Denmark, as an important ally, was sent a highly qualified and experienced Canadian ambassador. For example, a previous ambassador to Denmark had learned to speak Danish fluently and was married a Dane. But in 2002, the Canadian government appointed Alfonso Gagliano, a political liability with barely concealed mob connections and a record of political corruption, as ambassador to Denmark. Danes were rightfully offended. Ironically, it was Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham, the man whose visit to Hans Island in 2005 was so significant in the conflict, who forced Gagliano to be removed from his ambassadorship in 2004. The current Canadian ambassador to Denmark, Emi Furuya, and the current Danish Ambassador to Canada, Hanne Fugl Eskjær both appear to be competent and well qualified.

As a Canadian, I am thoroughly disappointed that ownership the island is not determined through drinking contest. An annual drinking contest between Canada and Greenland held say in the start of July. The winner taking complete ownership of the island the end of July and turn it over to the new winner the following July. Perhaps it could be five drinking contests, each a different sort of drinking contest. Like a one day Olympics of getting rightly hammered.

It was interesting to read it in the papers here in Canada. A new border with another nation, and a European one no less is a nice change for a country that takes forever to decide on doing the most minor of things. However, all I could think about at the time was the prospect that maybe a land border with a European nation may lead to us getting into Eurovision.

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As a Dane I had never heard of this conflict until I was living in Canada as an exchange student. Never saw it covered in any Danish media weirdly enough. Anyway good that it has been resolved 😊 love both countries

It's also worth noting that the Hand Island split means both nations now have exactly two land borders, where they used to only have 1. Denmark with Germany and Canada with USA.

Thanks so much. This was a really great explanation of what had to be one of the world's most obscure border disputes!

Unreal intro. Border disputes are like furries - dangerous! 🤣

Very interesting and sober look at such a "simple" kind of border dispute. Good point about it taking 50 years so resolve, between two very peaceful countries. Plus the jokes are as always spot on, love it!

Danish person here, Love you Canada 🇨🇦……it feels wonderful to now share border with you! 🇨🇦🤝🇩🇰

Great in-depth and funny video. Love it coming from a Canadian Veteran lol. It is an interesting bit of Geopolitics, compared to the seriousness of border disputes elsewhere :_stonks::_brit::_pwp:

Hans Island is important with regards to rights in the underlying continental shelf. Every North Pole nation is scrambling to secure exclusive economic zones for fishery and resources exploitation in the future. In the 1950s Denmark signed away rights to the vast Norwegian oil fields, which is why they're so careful today about relinquishing any future prospects.

As a dane, when i heard we got a new border over the dumbest and most friendly dispute ever, i just thought back at the dumb stories about the alcohol and stuff. That will be a cool story to tell to my grandchildren one day.

Technically speaking, Canada also had a land border with the Netherlands! During WWII, Princess Juliana of the Netherlands was evacuated to Canada. While in Canada, she became pregnant. If her daughter was born in Canada, she would become a Canadian citizen. To resolve this, Britain’s King George VI declared any place in Canada occupied by Princess Juliana during childbirth would be declared an extraterritorial Dutch territory. Four rooms in a Canadian hospital were prepared with a Dutch flag, and for a short period of time, those four rooms on the third floor of a hospital were officially Dutch territory.

Speaking of solving maritime border disputes, Israel and Lebanon did just that this week. Btw, the Canadian-Danish border (1,280 m) is now the third shortest in the world between two countries! Right after Botswana-Zambia border (157 meters) and Spain-UK border at Gibraltar (1,240 m).

As a dane I really miss this war. This was the best war in the history of the world. This is the kind of war everybody want to be a front soldier in. Skål 🍻

I think this still works well as an example of resolving border disputes. Even though it was disputed for 50 years, once they met and actually started working on a solution it was reached very quickly.