Posted on 08/21/2004 9:41:24 PM PDT by Pikamax
worthy global treaty has been awaiting Senate ratification for 22 years. If a tiny but noisy group of xenophobic activists, assisted by a callow Senate leadership, have their way, it will wait forever. And the world, the oceans and the strategic interests of the United States will be the poorer.
The treaty in question is the Law of the Sea, which, despite its soporific name and noble intent, has inspired lively ideological warfare over the years. Written in 1982 under United Nations auspices, it gives each nation control over its own coastal waters - an "exclusive economic zone" extending 200 miles offshore - and then sets up rules governing navigation, fishing and protection of the marine environment in the rest of the oceans. It also establishes an International Seabed Authority to govern mining on the ocean floor.
The treaty has been approved by 145 nations. In this country, it has won support from all sorts of people who are often at odds, including environmentalists, fishing interests, the oil and gas industry, the shipping industry, the State and Commerce Departments and the Navy. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved it unanimously in February, and there appear to be more than enough votes to ensure its ratification on the Senate floor.
Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, has said that he wants several other committees, including those dealing with the environment and intelligence, to take another look at the treaty. But what really seems to be holding him up are election-year fears, which the White House apparently shares, of archconservatives who regard the treaty as a whole and the seabed authority in particular as threats to America's sovereignty. Frank Gaffney Jr., a former Defense Department official, warns that the treaty would give "unaccountable international bureaucrats" control over American foreign policy. To the perennial right-wing gadfly Phyllis Schlafly, the treaty represents a "giant giveaway of American wealth."
A dispassionate reading suggests just the opposite. By codifying what is now only custom, by enlarging the Navy's access to strategically important waterways and by creating regulatory certainty for mining interests, the Law of the Sea Treaty would strengthen American sovereignty. From that perspective, the right wing's opposition seems not so much a coherent position as an article of blind faith.
Mr. Frist could get this thing ratified in a hurry if he put his mind to it. And there is even a deadline of sorts. In November, the treaty will be open for amendment for the first time, and the United States will not have a seat at the table unless it signs. That could be a real threat to this country's interests, instead of the bogus threats that appear to have intimidated Mr. Frist.
1/8" on my desk globe.
"When the NYSlimes thinks it is a good idea, we should turn and run away as fast as possible."
Yep! You took the words right off of my keyboard!
LOL! That's what I thought!
Let it die, this treaty could easily give the UN control of the world...
But the treaty does have its problems, see for example this article.
Just let it die.
Too bad Senators and Representatives don't take the trouble to read these things....you would think it should be required.
How is the damn UN going to inforce this thing?
BTW, This stuff used to be called "Admirality Law" or "The Law of Admirality".
Well of course the UN should control the sea, the waters running into the sea, the land the waters run on, the homes where the rain falls and every business where its denizens may drink water, including its varied forms known as coffee, pop, beer and the ocassional shot of white lightening.
And at the close of day all citizens should be required to give a hearty Seig Heil! to the unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats who wormed their way into our lives.
Thank you, NYT. I can always be assured of reading unaltered Marxist tripe on your pages every day, all day, all of the time.
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