First the gun, then the tank, nuclear weapons, and now … Google ads? The AP reports:

Canada and Denmark have taken their diplomatic tussle over a lump of Arctic rocks to the Internet with competing Google ads claiming sovereignty over Hans Island.

… The diplomatic debate began Monday when Denmark said it would send a letter of protest over a visit to the 1/2-square-mile Hans Island last week by Canadian Defense Minister Bill Graham.

… Toronto resident Rick Broadhead googled the matter and found an ad that touted Hans Island as Danish. “Does Hans sound Canadian? Danish name, Danish island.”

Internet users clicking on the ad were directed to the Danish Foreign Ministry’s Web site.

You can hear the conversation at the Canadian Forces Directorate of Counter-Advertising:

“Pierre! The Danes are buying space on the Labatt’s site! Institute countermeasure plan 3-C!”

“Mon dieu! Too late! They have hardened the target. We are blocked from their silly little pastry sites!”

“We need to pick new targets — Saab … no, Swedish … Nokia … no, Finnish … has anyone heard of a Danish company?”

“It’s too late! They’re running banner ads on the Maple Leafs site! There’s too many! They’re coming too fast! Aagh!”

“Hold it together, man! We took Juno beach on D-Day! We can save Hans Island from the Danes!”

“Sir! If we click on their ads, it’ll cost them at least five cents each time! We can break their entire economy!”

“Put out the word and click, Pierre! Click as fast as you can!”

Unfortunately, Pierre then had to wait six months to see a doctor about his carpal tunnel syndrome.

—
Update 3 (August 4): Hans Island Update: Danish Expeditionary Force Sets Sail

Update 2 (August 1): Canada Grants Citizenship to Hans Island’s Rocks; ‘We Welcome Our 13,925,638 New Granite-Canadian Countrymen,” says Prime Minister

Update 1 (July 31): Weekend Edition: Battle For Hans Island Spreads from Google to Blogosphere: CRISIS in the ARCTIC!

We usually post about California politics … but sometimes a story comes along that we can’t resist. For instance, these.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 28th, 2005 at 11:13 pm by A Senior Administration Official and is filed under Funny ... to us, Hans Island. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.