|
The United Nations itself is discussed here. This
page is specifically about The Law of the Sea Treaty, also known (for good reason) as LOST. UN Law of the Sea Gets Even Worse. Recently, 60 Minutes ran a new plea for the U.S. to ratify the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). President Ronald Reagan rejected this convention then and, despite tentative efforts by Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama to ratify, we still remain free of its entanglements. The CBS show segment blamed (credited) the Heritage Foundation for blocking Senate ratification. But National Review also played its part. I know because I wrote the April 16, 1982, cover story "How to Give Away Our Future: The New Law of the Sea" which I was informed was read by President Reagan and became part of his "stack of stuff" supporting his decision to reject UNCLOS. Not that it was a hard sell. The talks had been going on since 1973, and the future president devoted his October 10, 1978 radio address to warning against establishing a UN agency that would require companies to "accept production controls, turn over its technology to the UN[,] and find and evaluate mine sites for the Enterprise." The Enterprise, a UN-run mining operation, is "currently non-operational." Three Hillary Clinton Stories You Probably Missed Thanks to the Media's Obsession With Donald Trump. [#2] [Marc] Mezvinsky passed along the request on behalf of his former employer, Goldman Sachs, which was representing the mining firm Neptune in its effort to lobby for Senate approval of the Law of the Seas Treaty. Clinton forwarded the email to her aide Tom Nides, a former (and current) Morgan Stanley executive. The Clinton campaign refused to respond to multiple requests for comment from the Associated Press. A watchdog group has asked the U.S. Office of Government Ethics to investigate. Obama's incredible shrinking Pacific pivot. President Obama once had a sound foreign-policy concept, an overarching theme with real promise of being remembered as his doctrine. Oh, did you forget about the "pivot to Asia," a/k/a "Rebalancing to the Pacific"? Well, so did he. The pivot went unmentioned in Obama's Wednesday foreign-policy address at West Point. Indeed, he relegated Asia's biggest fear — the growing military threat China poses to its neighbors — to a sub-clause as he discussed the Senate's decades-long refusal to ratify an international convention, the Law of the Sea Treaty (derided by opponents as LOST). The Editor says... UN Agenda 21 Will Rule The US Waves. Whilst everyone has been occupied with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson's defense before Congress of the EPA's attempts to regulate CO2 emissions, the Administration has continued to move towards International Ocean Governance with the establishment of a Governance Coordinating Committee for the National Ocean Council. Secretary Kerry Still Pushing Law Of The Sea Treaty. After a reprieve from international regulation of our guns, another sovereignty-grabbing U.N. treaty, a pet project of our secretary of state, is still being pushed to declare the oceans the common heritage of mankind. Let's Lose LOST. When Secretary of State John Kerry gave a speech at the Ross Sea Conservation Reception on March 19, he suggested that we should have called our planet Ocean rather than Earth. He went on to outline an international environmental agenda centered around the oceans that we can expect to be the hallmark of his time in office. Saving the oceans will be the new rallying cry of the green movement and their political and corporate allies. We can therefore expect a new attempt soon to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). This would be a disaster for America. Obama's Second Term Regulations That Will Destroy America. There are also some Obama-backed U.N. treaties that defeated globalist-oriented lame-duck members of Congress with nothing to lose may successfully help to push through for ratification before leaving office. One is the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) which would subordinate U.S. naval and drilling operations beyond 200 miles of our coast to a newly established U.N. bureaucracy. If approved, it will grant a Kingston, Jamaica-based International Seabed Authority (ISA) the power to regulate deep-sea oil exploration, and seabed mining. As part of the deal, as much as 7% of U.S. government revenue collected from oil and gas companies operating off our coast will be forked over to ISA for redistribution to poorer, landlocked countries. This apparently is in penance for America's audacity in perpetuating prosperity yielded by our Industrial Revolution. New Senate Unlikely to Favor Law of the Sea Treaty. Viewed by conservatives as an assault on national sovereignty — but supported by military and business interests — the treaty has been awaiting Senate ratification since 1982, and has been pushed strongly this year. In the 113th Congress, Democrats will hold 53 seats to the Republicans' 45, an increase of two over the current 51-47 breakdown.DOD looks to foreign allies for help passing Law of the Sea treaty. The Defense Department is looking for a little help from its friends overseas as the Pentagon and White House try to break Senate opposition to an international treaty on maritime law. Meeting with the defense chiefs of several Asian powers during the Shangri-La defense talks over the weekend, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta took the opportunity to continue his push for Senate ratification of the controversial Law of the Sea treaty. A great month for American sovereignty. Property values in the global community took a hit this month after the United States twice declined invitations to surrender its sovereignty to the United Nations. The first bit of good news came when Senators Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and Jim DeMint (R-SC) announced a 34-member coalition pledged in opposition to the U.N.'s Law of the Sea Treaty (L.O.S.T.). While more may join the effort, there are now enough votes to prevent ratification and protect the U.S. Navy and our oil and gas industries from answering to the United Nations and the International Seabed Authority (I.S.A.). L.O.S.T. is a deeply flawed document that would transfer power, authority, resources and riches to employees at the U.N. whose credentials barely rise to that of flea market management. Law of the Sea Treaty now dead, DeMint says. The United Nations Law of the Sea Treaty now has 34 senators opposed to it and thus lacks the Senate votes needed for U.S. ratification, a key opponent of the treaty announced Monday [7/16/2012]. But the treaty's main Senate proponent denies the treaty is sunk, saying plenty of time still exists to win support before a planned late-year vote. GOP senators effectively kill UN sea takeover. With 34 Republican senators now opposing a United Nations effort to regulate international waters, the Law of the Sea treaty effectively has no way forward in the U.S. Senate. Republican Sens. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Rob Portman of Ohio, Mike Johanns of Nebraska and Johnny Isakson of Georgia joined 30 other GOP members in agreeing to vote against the U.N. treaty. Tide turns against Law of the Sea Treaty. The Obama administration's all-out push to join the United Nations international maritime treaty is just four votes short of being doomed after two more senators this week added their names to the list of lawmakers who have vowed to oppose it. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) are the two latest senators to sign on to the letter, The Hill has learned, bringing the total to 30. Treaties need a two-thirds majority to pass in the Senate, meaning 34 signatures would effectively kill it. Don't Get LOST. Ratification of the treaty would make the U.S. a member of the "International Seabed Authority," an "autonomous international organization" that was established in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1994. The Authority currently has 161 member states including Zimbabwe, Belarus, Cuba, and Sudan, and if the U.S. joins we will have an equal voice — though we will be obliged to contribute 22 percent of the budget, under the same formula used for U.N. funding. But that's the least of it. Accession, [Donald] Rumsfeld stressed, means giving the Authority the power to "regulate American citizens and businesses," even though it "would not be accountable politically to the American people." The U.S. would accept the Authority's control of all ocean resources. We would agree to transfer to the Authority a share of all wealth Americans produce, now and forever, from the seas, including from the American continental shelf, the seabed contiguous to our coasts. The LOST sinkhole. Like those who say climate change is an emergency too obvious and urgent to allow for debate, some proponents of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a.k.a. the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST), say arguments against it are nonexistent. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says any such arguments "no longer exist and truly cannot even be taken with a straight face." Favoring condescension over persuasion, she ridicules people who she says think that, because the treaty was negotiated under U.N. auspices, "the black helicopters are on their way." The Law of the Sea Treaty: A View from Below. The high-level exchanges about the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) have come down on two sides. Six secretaries of state argue that the United States must ratify and participate in order to protect its national interests, mainly military navigational freedoms. Two former cabinet officers, by contrast, point out that we already have the navigational freedoms and that joining the international bureaucracy will complicate dispute settlement and make a host of other economic interests vulnerable to fatal compromise. Law of the Sea Hearings Point to Lame Duck Passage Strategy. Today [6/14/2012], the Senate has two hearings scheduled on the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). The Senate will have had three hearings on the LOST after today — yet, not for the purposes of educating Senators on the flaws versus the benefits of the treaty. These hearings are a pretext for a lame duck strategy to railroad the treaty through the Senate after the November election. Former Bush officials clash over need for the Law of the Sea Treaty. Top George W. Bush administration officials clashed Thursday [6/14/2012] over whether the United States should join a maritime treaty at the United Nations. John Negroponte, Bush's first director of national intelligence, joined the State Department's former top lawyer John Bellinger in warning that the Navy and American oil and gas companies would be hamstrung if the U.S. doesn't join the pact. But former Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld countered that having to pay royalties to a United Nation agency was unacceptable to President Ronald Reagan in 1982 — and remains so today. Democrats' plan for a 'backdoor' Kyoto Protocol. More than three years into the Obama administration, Democrats haven't been able to pass a cap-and-trade law but are poised to ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) — an international agreement certain to cripple America's energy economy. [...] Ratifying LOST not only means losing national sovereignty, it means losing jobs. If the United States enters this agreement, it would mean giving up billions in oil-and-gas royalties to be redistributed among developing and landlocked nations — some of whom are state sponsors of terror — and subjecting the United States to international climate change lawsuits. National security expert: Law of the Sea treaty a 'question of sovereignty'. For three decades, the United States has declined to sign on to a U.N. treaty that would give unprecedented taxing and permitting authority over activity on international waters to a U.N.-created agency. But the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has been making its way though committee in the Senate, and a vote could come up before the end of the year. Law of the Sea Treaty may be improved, but remains deeply flawed. [Scroll down] Writing June 5 in the Los Angeles Times, former Reagan Attorney General Edwin Meese III insisted that Reagan would not sign the treaty today because it still poses "a direct threat to American sovereignty." He added, "President Reagan so strongly opposed the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea that he didn't just not sign the treaty. He very publicly refused to sign it. He also dismissed the State Department staff that helped negotiate it." Common sense lost at sea. In short, the Obama administration wants senators to suspend common sense and ignore real and legitimate concerns about the deleterious impact of the Law of the Sea Treaty on our sovereignty, economic interests and potentially even the national security. DOD looks to foreign allies for help passing Law of the Sea treaty. The Defense Department is looking for a little help from its friends overseas as the Pentagon and White House try to break Senate opposition to an international treaty on maritime law. Meeting with the defense chiefs of several Asian powers during the Shangri-La defense talks over the weekend, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta took the opportunity to continue his push for Senate ratification of the controversial Law of the Sea treaty. Time for LOST to Get Lost. [Scroll down] Here is what it would mean: Developed nations — especially the United States — would pay royalties on oil and gas development on the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles to the ISA [International Seabed Authority]. U.S. royalties would be billions of dollars — if not trillions. The ISA's main job would be to distribute that money to, as the treaty says, "developing States" and "peoples who have not attained full independence". The ISA would be overseen by the "assembly" in which the U.S. would have one vote. As would Zimbabwe, Belarus, Cuba and Sudan. According to Transparency International, 13 of the world's 20 most corrupt nations are parties to LOST. Some are considered state sponsors of terrorism, and there is nothing to prevent them from getting money from the U.S. Treasury, via the ISA, if we were to sign the treaty. U.N. Law Of The Sea Treaty Must Be Stopped. The administration begins the push for ratification of a 1982 treaty that would end America's sovereignty on the high seas, limit our freedoms on land and speed up the global redistribution of wealth and power. Clinton Pushes Senate on Sea Treaty for U.S. Business. Obama administration officials pushed for the U.S. to join a 30-year-old international treaty that they say is now essential to counter China and maintain influence in Asia, while Republican critics say it would undermine U.S. sovereignty. Opposition to Sea Treaty Based on 'Mythology,' Clinton Tells Senate. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee began the latest round in a decades-long fight to ratify the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), known as the Law of the Sea Treaty, with supporters in the Obama administration and the military squaring off against Republican opponents on Wednesday [5/23/2012]. "I am well aware that this treaty does have determined opposition, limited, but nevertheless quite vociferous," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the committee. "And it's unfortunate because it's opposition based in ideology and mythology, not in facts, evidence, or the consequences of our continuing failure to accede to the treaty." Senate Republicans split over Law of the Sea Treaty. A United Nations treaty that Ronald Reagan rejected is rearing its head again in Washington. The big surprise this time around? A few key Republicans are throwing their weight behind it and others seem willing to budge. U.N. Law Of The Sea Treaty Must Be Stopped. The administration begins the push for ratification of a 1982 treaty that would end America's sovereignty on the high seas, limit our freedoms on land and speed up the global redistribution of wealth and power. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told Sen. John Kerry's Senate Foreign Relations Committee last Wednesday [5/23/2012] that the freedom of the sea once guaranteed by the British Royal Navy and then the U.S. Navy should be in the hands of United Nations bureaucrats in Montego Bay, Jamaica, enforcers of the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) he said we must ratify. Obama's Land of the LOST. What's green and blue and grabby all over? President Obama's new pressure campaign for Congress to ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). The fight over LOST goes back three decades, when it was first rejected by President Ronald Reagan. He warned that "no national interest of the United States could justify handing sovereign control of two-thirds of the Earth's surface over to the Third World." According to top Reagan officials William Clark and Ed Meese, their boss believed the treaty's "central, and abiding, defect" was "its effort to promote global government at the expense of sovereign nation states — and most especially the United States." Kerry: No vote on Sea Treaty before election. The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee announced Wednesday [5/23/2012] he likely won't bring up the Law of the Sea Treaty for a vote before the November election. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said some lawmakers "on and off the committee" have candidly told him they'd "be more comfortable" if they could avoid having to cast the controversial vote during the campaign season. A treaty's dark and long shadow. "Decided in NSC meeting — will not sign 'Law of the Sea.' ... " So Ronald Reagan noted in his diary entry for June 29, 1982. That should have been the last word on the topic, 30 years ago. Three decades later, the United States still has not bought into the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, often called by the clunky acronym UNCLOS. And still, America enjoys the freedom to cross the oceans. A third of our trade travels over the seas. Have we missed out on anything by spurning UNCLOS? No. Reagan got it right. False-flag operation on LOST. The usual suspects [...] are dusting off the hopelessly outdated and inequitable United Nations Law of the Sea Treaty in the hope of jamming its ratification through the Senate as was done two years ago with the defective New Start Treaty. Amazingly, they are doing so under what intelligence professionals would dub a "false flag" operation — an initiative that presents itself as one thing, in this case the "American Sovereignty Campaign," when it is exactly the opposite. If ever there were an anti-sovereignty treaty it is LOST. Obama Seeks Sovereignty Surrender Via LOST Treaty. Even if he's not re-elected, the president hopes to leave behind a treaty giving a U.N. body veto power over the use of our territorial waters and to which we'd be required to give half of our offshore oil revenue. Will Obama Leave The US In Shambles If He Loses the Election? Just like a spoiled child who doesn't know the word "NO", I believe that if Obama loses the upcoming election, he and his communist regime will do everything in their lame-duck power to destroy America to a point of no return for the incoming President. New information on five treaties that are currently being negotiated by Hillary Clinton and other members of the regime's state department could spell grave danger to the soverignty of the United States of America. American Sovereignty: LOST at Sea? Thirty years ago, President Reagan wisely shelved this U.N. project. He viewed it, as most Americans who have serious concerns about that world body viewed it, as a typical example of liberal internationalist globaloney. Jimmy Carter, probably sensing that he would get the boot from American voters, began trolling for votes on the Nobel Peace Prize committee through such ill-considered measures. First, we need to throw overboard any "International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea." The U.N. would choose this maritime court. After Opposing in Senate, Lott Lobbies for Law of Sea Treaty Ratification. Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, now a lobbyist, is backing ratification of the same Law of the Sea Treaty that he previously said "would put a number of our entities, including the private sector and the military in my opinion at the mercy of the U.N. bureaucracy." Lott is a lobbyist with Breaux Lott Leadership Group, a subsidiary of the lobbying firm Patton Boggs LLP. He is partnering with former U.S. Sen. John Breaux of Louisiana. According to lobbying reports filed this year, the firm is being paid $80,000 by Shell Oil Company and another $30,000 by Pike Associates LLC to promote passage of the Law of the Sea Treaty under consideration in the U.S. Senate. Flashback: Senator Lott's Railroad to Nowhere. Trent Lott explains support for treaty he once said would create 'UN on steroids'. Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott told The Daily Caller on Monday that he isn't a hypocrite for lobbying in favor of a treaty he emphatically denounced as recently as 2007. DeMint Urges Opposition to Sea Treaty, Citing 'Redistribution of Wealth' and 'Freedom of Navigation'. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) is urging his Senate colleagues to join him in opposing the Law of the Sea Treaty. So far he's gathered 24 signatures on the letter he's circulating. "By its current terms, the Law of the Sea Convention encompasses economic and technology interests in the deep sea, redistribution of wealth from developed to undeveloped nations, freedom of navigation in the deep sea and exclusive economic zones which may impact maritime security, and environmental regulation over virtually all sources of pollution," says the letter obtained by CNSNews.com. Obama Seeks Sovereignty Surrender Via LOST Treaty. Even if he's not re-elected, the president hopes to leave behind a treaty giving a U.N. body veto power over the use of our territorial waters and to which we'd be required to give half of our offshore oil revenue. Law of Sea Treaty Could Cost U.S. Trillions. It's the year before a presidential election, so it must be time to debate the Law of the Sea Treaty ("LOST") again. As recently as last Thursday the Chief of Naval Operations pleaded for the U.S. to join the treaty. The Obama Administration has supported Senate action on LOST since at least May 2009 when it released its Treaty Priority List. Obama's Ambitious U.N. Treaty Agenda. With Al Franken replacing Norm Coleman, Senate Democrats have another vote for the U.N.'s Law of the Sea Treaty, and there are strong indications that they intend to bring this controversial document up for a vote within days or weeks. Those who favor the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) believe that U.S. security lies in passing a treaty and hiring more lawyers to defend America before an international tribunal, rather than building more ships for the Navy and Coast Guard. Somali Pirates: An Excuse to Ratify LOST? Our globalist-minded policy elites have the solution [for piracy], of course: more empowerment of the United Nations. If you haven't already heard of the LOST prescription for piracy, you soon will. Ratification of the UN Law Of the Sea Treaty is a "top priority" for the new Obama administration, according to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Senate Moves Toward Ratification of U.N.'s 'Law of the Sea Treaty'. The Senate is gearing up to ratify a Nixon-era U.N. treaty meant to create universal laws to govern the seas — a treaty critics say will create a massive U.N. bureaucracy that could even claim powers over American waterways. LOST — the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, also called the Law of the Sea Treaty — regulates all things oceanic, from fishing rights, navigation lanes and environmental concerns to what lies beneath: the seabed's oil and mineral wealth that companies hope to explore and exploit in coming years. Last Stand for American Sovereignty. The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), now being pushed by the Bush Administration for a quick vote, is already starting to get rave reviews from the press, with the Sacramento Bee saying that protecting the oceans of the world could be Bush's "legacy." The message to Bush is that he should go out as a liberal and he may salvage some of his reputation. But he will lose what is left of his conservative base. Despite the title, this is on topic. The Politically Incorrect Black American Hero. Even without the Law of the Sea Treaty, which is also known by the acronym LOST, [Carl] Olson points out that "the State of Alaska has absolutely no say or standing whatsoever with regard to ocean boundaries or resources. The U.S. Department of State claims 100% authority in these matters for the United States, with no power for states, including advisory and co-equal status." However, "Under LOST, the problem gets one step worse with authority thrown over to the unaccountable and opaque United Nations," he points out. They Just Don't Get LOST. This year [2007] a Democratic majority took power on Capitol Hill. But new leadership has done nothing to address an old problem: Lawmakers racing to pass bills they haven't actually read. ... Consider the Law of the Sea Treaty. President Reagan first scuttled LOST back in 1982 because it would've hurt American sovereignty. But President Clinton brought it back in the 1990s, and the treaty's been floating around Capitol Hill ever since. Permission Slip for the Sea. In his 2004 State of the Union Address, President Bush said, "America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country." Members of both parties and both houses of Congress applauded. But if the Senate votes to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea — known as the Law of the Sea Treaty — or its appropriate acronym — LOST — he and his successors are going to need lots of permission slips. LOST justice: I am not a lawyer. But you don't need to be one to recognize a legal train-wreck in the making. And that is what recent events portend if the U.S. Senate agrees to ratify the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (better known as the Law of the Sea Treaty or LOST) in the next few weeks. Law of the Sea Treaty Will Provide Key "Elements" of "World Government". U.S. military backing for LOST is truly ironic because the evidence and history show that the treaty was crafted and primarily pushed by those who not only favor the ICC but also the abolition of national armies and the creation of a U.N. military force to rule the world. In short, U.S. military leaders are supporting a treaty that comes from the same people who want to diminish, even abolish, the power of the U.S. military. Sinister Secrets of the U.N.: Here lies one of the sinister secrets of the U.N.'s Law of the Sea Treaty that the major media are either too lazy or too dishonest to report. It is a "secret," of course, only in the sense that it is kept from the American people by papers like the New York Times. The shocking truth is that the Law of the Sea Treaty, one of several treaties being pushed by State Department Legal Adviser John B. Bellinger III, was largely written by people like Sam Levering, a World Federalist devoted to world government. Sovereignty at Stake: Losing Under a "Lost" Treaty. My husband and I have taught our three children that the people of the United States have a fundamental right to self-determination — that our national sovereignty is critical if we are to remain a free people. How do I explain to them that President Bush wants to sign a treaty that will seriously undermine America's sovereignty and put our security at risk? The Top Five Reasons Why Conservatives Should Oppose the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea: #1: The Treaty Will Undermine U.S. Sovereignty. #2: The Treaty Will Become a Back Door for Environmental Activists. #3: America Should Not Participate in Yet Another U.N. Bureaucracy. #4: American Participation Will Undermine U.S. Military and Intelligence Operations. #5: The U.S. Does Not Need the Convention to Guarantee Navigation Rights. Possibly the Final Push for the Law of the Sea Treaty. [LOST] establishes an International Seabed Authority (ISA) to authorize seabed exploration and mining and collect and distribute the seabed mining royalty. President Reagan strongly objected to the provisions of Part XI, saying that they were unfavorable to America's economy and security. The provisions of the Treaty were not free-market friendly and were designed to favor the economic systems of the Communist states. Why Reagan Would Still Reject the Law of the Sea Treaty. There is an ongoing debate regarding the position of President Ronald Reagan in regard to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, better known as the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). Fortunately, there are multiple sources indicating precisely what Reagan would do if presented with LOST today: He would reject it. Senate panel OKs sea treaty, but fight looms. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee easily approved the Law of the Sea convention yesterday [10/31/2007], brushing back conservatives' objections and setting up a bruising ratification fight on the Senate floor, where Republicans say they can defeat it. Defeat the Law of the Sea Treaty. The "new" treaty was approved Oct. 31 by a 17-4 Senate Foreign Relations Committee vote. What was wrong with LOST 25 years ago is what's wrong with it now — it would undermine American sovereignty and risk national security by putting American efforts to counteract nuclear-weapons proliferation and international terrorism under the control of foreign judges. Walter Cronkite Promotes U.N. Sea Treaty. Dan Rather is making headlines suing his former employer, but Rather's predecessor, Walter Cronkite, is busy promoting world government. Cronkite surfaced as one of the 101 "prominent leaders" signing a letter urging Senate passage of the U.N.'s Law of the Sea Treaty. His CBS affiliation is listed on the letter, making it seem as though the media giant is taking sides in the debate over the pact. This would not be surprising; media coverage has been overwhelmingly pro-treaty. An Establishment Push for the Law of the Sea Treaty. How well I recall the Panama Canal Treaty fight of thirty years ago. The political establishment was adamantly in favor of the Treaty. The people were against it. There were two political consequences of the ratification of the Treaty. Many Democratic Senators insisted they knew better than the people. The first of these was Senator Thomas J. McIntyre (D-NH). "I was elected by the people. I know more than they do. Of course, I am in favor of the Treaty." Well, no. The people knew better than he did. He made that statement in 1977. The following year a co-pilot for Allegheny Airlines, Gordon J. Humphrey, upset McIntyre in the biggest story of that election. U.N. sea treaty still a bad deal for U.S.. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (aka, the Law of the Sea Treaty) was first hammered out in 1982. Twelve years later, U.S. negotiators signed an amended agreement, but it was never ratified. Now Sen. John F. Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, is pressing for Senate approval, claiming the treaty would give the United States new rights and advantages. The Bush Record on the U.N.: Increased funding of the U.N. (U.S. contributions to the U.N. System from risen from $3.1 billion in fiscal year 2001 to $5.3 billion in fiscal year 2005). Supports ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty. Supported Ban Ki-moon, the South Korean foreign minister, as new U.N. Secretary-General, despite his support for global taxes. Ordered Texas courts to comply with an International Court of Justice ruling in a death penalty case. Renewed membership in UNESCO, at a cost of $67 million a year. McCain's Incoherent New World Order: In his March 26 speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, McCain never mentioned the need to preserve American sovereignty. He could have reassured conservatives by stating his forthright opposition to Senate ratification of the U.N.'s Law of the Sea Treaty, which provides for international control over billions of dollars worth of oil, gas and minerals and undermines American claims to North Pole riches. But he chose not to. Opportunity knocking: defeat the Law of the Sea Treaty. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was a terrible idea when then-President Reagan refused to sign it in 1982 and fired the State Department staff who helped negotiate it. It's an even worse idea today because of the additional dangers it poses. Last Stand for American Sovereignty. The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), now being pushed by the Bush Administration for a quick vote, is already starting to get rave reviews from the press, with the Sacramento Bee saying that protecting the oceans of the world could be Bush's "legacy." The message to Bush is that he should go out as a liberal and he may salvage some of his reputation. But he will lose what is left of his conservative base. The Bush Record on the U.N.: Increased funding of the U.N. (U.S. contributions to the U.N. System from risen from $3.1 billion in fiscal year 2001 to $5.3 billion in fiscal year 2005). Supports ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty. Supported Ban Ki-moon, the South Korean foreign minister, as new U.N. Secretary-General, despite his support for global taxes. Back to The UN Back to the Home page 
|