Critics assail Law of the Sea treaty

[GreatAmerican]

<p><a href=“http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/10/navy_lawofthesea_071004w/[/url]”>http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/10/navy_lawofthesea_071004w/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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Critics of the Convention of the Law of the Sea argued at a hearing Thursday that signing the treaty was a “recipe for disaster,” leading to the creation of “a socialist entity” to police the world’s oceans.</p>

<p>Frank Gaffney, a former member of the Reagan administration who now heads the Center for Security Policy, argued that critics of the treaty have been “underrepresented” in hearings on the subject. He said the high percentage of Senate Foreign Relations Committee members who favor the treaty “amounts to a rubber stamp” of support for the Law of the Sea Convention…

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[GreatAmerican]

<p><a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/03/AR2007100301649.html[/url]”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/03/AR2007100301649.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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The White House is pushing the Senate to ratify a long-spurned high seas treaty that has gained new relevance with the melting of the polar ice cap and anticipated competition for the oil that lies below. </p>

<p>President Bush says U.S. approval of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, concluded in 1982 and in force since 1994, would give the United States “a seat at the table” when rights over natural resources are debated and interpreted…

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[GreatAmerican]

<p><a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/06/AR2007080601451.html[/url]”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/06/AR2007080601451.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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In their July 30 op-ed, “Opportunity on the Oceans,” Lawrence S. Eagleburger and John Norton Moore made strong arguments for U.S. ratification of the Law of the Sea Convention.</p>

<p>The United States needs only to look north to see encroaching claims on Arctic waters, which are becoming increasingly important as global warming makes them more navigable. Last week, Vladimir Putin sent a presidential envoy to plant a Russian flag on the sea bottom under the North Pole, and Canada is building a fleet of icebreakers and patrol vessels to enforce its claim to the Northwest Passage…

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[GreatAmerican]

<p>The World Dictatorship Treaty: Does that get your attention? Many senators in the dark</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/vernon/071008[/url]”>http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/vernon/071008&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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Only three Republican members of the Senate Armed Services Committee knew what the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) is, according to a recent survey. Only 3 out of the 12 GOP committee members. There was no known survey of Democrat members.</p>

<p>That reinforces this column’s point last week ([“What’s</a> the rush?”](<a href=“http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/vernon/071001][i]"What’s”>http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/vernon/071001) — Oct. 1, 2007) that there are 10 other Senate committees besides Foreign Relations (dominated by the bipartisan internationalist Biden-Lugar cabal) that need to hold open and (hopefully) well-publicized hearings of LOST to inform senators…

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[GreatAmerican]

<p><a href=“http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/vernon/071015[/url]”>http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/vernon/071015&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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The problem here is the Law of the Sea Treaty, translated by this column as the World Dictatorship Treaty in everyday street language. If that is a little over the top for you, try LOST — an appropriate acronym and a word well understood by the public at large. Then you’d have a follow-up — i.e., if the treaty is ratified, we Americans will have LOST the right to security, safety, American constitutional rights, our economy (jobs), and our sovereignty.</p>

<p>LOST is supposedly zipping through the Senate on a “fast track,” with sponsors saying not to worry about President Reagan’s refusal to sign on back in 1982. His problems with the document have now been “fixed.”…

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[GreatAmerican]

<p><a href=“http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071101/NATION/111010044/1001[/url]”>http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071101/NATION/111010044/1001&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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The Senate Foreign Relations Committee easily approved the Law of the Sea convention yesterday, brushing back conservatives’ objections and setting up a bruising ratification fight on the Senate floor, where Republicans say they can defeat it.</p>

<p>Ratification of treaties takes a two-thirds vote. Republican leaders are trying to secure 34 signatures on a letter to show they have the support to block it and hope this will persuade President Bush and Senate Democrats to put off a vote until at least next year…

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