Eight American islands in the Bering Sea to be given to Russia by Obama!

Joe Miller.com ^ | Published: 02/16/2012 | Joe Miller

[Mr Apple]

Part of Obama’s apparent war against U.S. energy independence includes a foreign-aid program that directly threatens my state’s sovereign territory. Obama’s State Department is giving away seven strategic, resource-laden Alaskan islands to the Russians. Yes, to the Putin regime in the Kremlin.

The seven endangered islands in the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea include one the size of Rhode Island and Delaware combined. The Russians are also to get the tens of thousands of square miles of oil-rich seabeds surrounding the islands. The Department of Interior estimates billions of barrels of oil are at stake.

The State Department has undertaken the giveaway in the guise of a maritime boundary agreement between Alaska and Siberia. Astoundingly, our federal government itself drew the line to put these seven Alaskan islands on the Russian side. But as an executive agreement, it could be reversed with the stroke of a pen by President Obama or Secretary Clinton.

The agreement was negotiated in total secrecy. The state of Alaska was not allowed to participate in the negotiations, nor was the public given any opportunity for comment. This is despite the fact the Alaska Legislature has passed resolutions of opposition – but the State Department doesn’t seem to care.

The imperiled Arctic Ocean islands include Wrangel, Bennett, Jeannette and Henrietta. Wrangel became American in 1881 with the landing of the U.S. Revenue Marine ship Thomas Corwin. The landing party included the famed naturalist John Muir. It is 3,000 square miles in size.

Northwest of Wrangel are the DeLong Islands, named for George Washington DeLong, the captain of USS Jeannette. Also in 1881, he discovered and claimed these three islands for the United States. He named them for the voyage co-sponsor, New York City newspaper publisher James Gordon Bennett. The ship’s crew received a hero’s welcome back in Washington, and Congress awarded them gold medals.

In the Bering Sea at the far west end of the Aleutian chain are Copper Island, Sea Lion Rock and Sea Otter Rock. They were ceded to the U.S. in Seward’s 1867 treaty with Russia.

Now is the time for the Obama administration to stand up for U.S. and Alaskan rights and invaluable resources. The State Department’s maritime agreement is a loser – it gives us nothing in return for giving up Alaska’s sovereign territory and invaluable resources. We won the Cold War and should start acting like it.

The Obama administration must stop the giveaway immediately.

***

Author’s addendum, Feb. 17, 2012: This is not a new issue. In fact the Bush and Clinton administrations are directly at fault for the same inaction. A maritime agreement negotiated by the U.S. State Department set the Russian boundary on the other side of the disputed islands, but no treaty has ratified this action. Consequently, it is within the president’s power to stop this giveaway. The Alaska delegation’s failure to put pressure on the administration is inexplicable. State Department Watch, an organization that assisted with this article, has confronted each administration and is currently confronting the Obama administration — and has been met by silence. I’m hoping this piece will help reinvigorate efforts to stop this handover.

[tcrlaf]

“If you look at the islands in question, it will become clear why we agreed that they should be Russian, and why so few people are worked up over this.”

Not this crap, yet again...

State has NEVER had a claim on these islands, they are far closer to Russia, than to Alaska, and the largest has been the home of of a Russian colony since the 1910’s, as well as a Soviet Early Warning Radar Station, and an Interceptor Air Base until the late 80’s.

[tiger63]

Jimma Cotta gave away the Panama Canal, your bozo POS r-sident has to follow suit to some how make friends with China as a double down deal.

FUBO!

[Mr Apple]

I believe that more discussion of this has merit if this giveaway can be legally stopped by socialist Obama. If this posting has no merit and can not help this situation, then I suppose this posting should just be deleted, however, I don't think it is burdensome on fr bandwidth for simple discussion.

Excerpt:

[Carl] Olson believes that the United States has lost three groups of islands: one off the coast of Alaska, one in the central Pacific, and one in the Caribbean. He asserts that some of the lost Alaskan islands -- there are eight in all, including Wrangel Island, which he describes as being "the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined" -- were acquired from Russia in the 1867 Alaska Purchase and that the rest were claimed for the United States upon their discovery, by various explorers, in 1881. Today, though, they are all claimed by Russia -- something that is not contested by the United States. This bothers Olson. A lot. He filed several inquiries with the State Department and never, he says, received a satisfactory response.

[BuffaloJack]

> That’s all he can do for now.

> After the election he’ll have more flexibility....

That’s when he’ll be able to give away the whole state of Alaska.

[tanknetter]

The one bright side to this us that the US would probably never authorize the exploitation of the oil fields up there. Or if we did the process for getting approval to do so would be so time consuming and burdensome that it would never be practical.

The Russians operate under no such constraints or limitations. If we can’t get that oil out at least someone will, and getting it onto the world market will offset demand and lower, or at least slow, energy related price increases. And it’ll be done by the fairly pragmatic Russians (who need the revenue stream) rather than Middle Eastern theocrats or Central American ideologues.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Would not the original treaty of sale, in 1867, have clearly defined the boundaries?

[Moltke]

Might as well claim that region between Alaska and the Lower 49. (Formerly known as “Canada”.)

[Smokin' Joe]

The Russians operate under no such constraints or limitations.

And with little regard for the environment, unlike American oil companies. The current will carry their spills toward the rest of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest (US and Canada).

Then the Communist Ecowhackos here will blame it on our oil industry.

[thackney]

Would not the original treaty of sale, in 1867, have clearly defined the boundaries?

It did, very clearly. The islands are in Russia.

[thackney]

This is a fake issue Joe. Those islands have never been part of the US.

On to real stuff, WTI is going to start getting a little more competitive with this:

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2012/04/16/537913/

Enbridge Inc. and Enterprise Products Partners LP plan to start crude oil shipments on the Seaway pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma, to the U.S. Gulf Coast on about May 17, according to a filing with regulators.

...

The shipping duration will be reduced to about five days after the line’s capacity is boosted to about 400,000 barrels early next year...

Uncommitted rates will be $3.82 a barrel for light crude and $4.32 for heavy crude...

Five-year committed agreements to ship light oil in volumes less than 100,000 barrels a day will cost between $2.75 and $3 a barrel. Ten-year agreements for the same grade of oil and the same volume will cost between $2.50 and $2.75...

[Michael.SF.]

I stated no opinion on the issue. I took exception to this comment:

I can not find a direct link to this Miller piece, but I am sure the facts presented here are correct.

A simple google search produced numerous stories on the issue, which caused me to believe there is far more to the story then what was presented here.

[CharlesWayneCT]

If you do your own search, you may not find anything Sarah Palin has said about the subject. If not, that should tell you all you need to know about the island issue.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

If you read the article, the treaty of 1867 did not address these islands. Some were later discovered and “claimed” by an American afterwards. The U.S. has never officially asserted a claim to them. Clearly, any U.S. claim would be outside of the 1867 sale of Alaska. Certainly the Alaska legislation cannot have any say, since the Constitution leaves foreign relations to the Federal Government, and the land in question was never part of Alaska. In this case, I agree with the Russians and the State Department.

[thackney]

If you read the article, the treaty of 1867 did not address these islands.

One the islands, Copper Island, is directly mentioned by name as the border was placed between it and Attu. Copper was on the Russian side.

The treaty does not list every island in the area, but uses some islands and some of the mainland to determine where the dividing line was drawn. All of those islands reside on the Russian side of the border.

Read the following description of the Western border from the 1867 treaty and tell me how any of those islands west of the border actually belong to the US:

The western limit within which the territories and dominion conveyed, are contained, passes through a point in Behring's straits on the parallel of sixty-five degrees thirty minutes north latitude, at its intersection by the meridian which passes midway between the islands of Krusenstern, or Inaglook, and the island of Ratmanoff, or Noonarbook, and proceeds due north, without limitation, into the same Frozen ocean. The same western limit, beginning at the same initial point, proceeds thence in a course nearly southwest through Behring's straits and Behring's sea, so as to pass midway between the northwest point of the island of St. Lawrence and the southeast point of Cape Choukotski, to the meridian of one hundred and seventy-two west longitude; thence, from the intersection of that meridian, in a southwesterly direction, so as to pass midway between the island of Attou and the Copper island of the Kormandorski couplet or group in the North Pacific ocean, to the meridian of one hundred and ninety-three degrees west longitude, so as to include in the territory conveyed the whole of the Aleutian islands east of that meridian.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Thanks for clearing that up ;)

[thackney]

Sorry, only the first sentence was intended a direct response to you. The remainder was intended as general info to the thread readers and should have been shown in separate post.

Cheers.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I am still sincerely grateful. Your response was clearer, more informative and more detailed than the original article.

[thackney]

That is because the original article was intended to deceive.

Obama has made many, many real mistakes. Accusing him of false items only makes us look like fools. It makes the real problems doubtful when combined with stuff like this.

I would not be surprised to learn that some of them are written by his supporters, trying to draw in gullible conservatives.

[thackney]

To be clear, I don’t consider Joe Miller an Obama supporter.

I was very surprised when I first learned of this article. I suspect someone he trusted was fooled by this an encouraged him to write it, without doing any real research. But I am only guess.

My fear is he has recognized the fund raising ability of accusing Obama of this junk and is willing to deceive gullible supporters. I have nothing to base that upon, only a worse case scenario.

As his article concludes at the end, Obama has done the exact same thing as President Bush did on this issue, that is nothing. The maritime agreement negotiated by the U.S. State Department and Russia only confirmed the original 1867 treaty as the border still today. The dispute of the islands only exist in the minds of a few, and not with either government.

[skinkinthegrass]

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