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Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 30,867
Master Elite Member
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Oppose Ratification of
the UN's Law of the Sea Treaty
(LOST)
Since 1982 when then-president
Ronald Reagan refused to sign the United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Sea, better known as the Law of the Sea Treaty
(LOST), it has been kept on a legislative backburner awaiting
a ratification vote in the U.S. Senate. Suddenly in early May,
both Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, and Leon Panetta, Secretary of Defense,
both announced that they were in favor of
getting LOST ratified this year. According to some
pundits, Kerry would have already scheduled hearings on LOST,
but postponed them to avoid hurting the chances of key LOST
supporter, Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), in his primary
face-off with tea-party-backed Richard Mourdock on May 8. It
turns out that Lugar lost anyway. (Click here to view a short video of Dick
Morris warning about LOST.)
 So, now that Lugar's primary
election is over, Kerry says he will work hard to find the right
time for holding hearings and a ratification vote this
year. At this point, it's hard to predict when a ratification
vote might occur. We have to expect it could occur as early as
June and as late as a lame-duck session after the elections in
November.
Most of the opposition to LOST is based on
opposition to its creation of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), which
has been established to administer the natural resources of
the seabeds and ocean floor. If the United States ratifies
LOST, American entrepreneurs who mine the ocean floor would be
required to pay substantial royalties to and share technology
with the ISA, thus providing a revenue stream for an arm of
the UN.
However, there is a much better reason to
reject ratification.
Read this statement from an
official UN document, "25th Anniversary of the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea," Oct. 17, 2007:
The United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea ... is perhaps one of
the most significant but less recognized 20th century
accomplishments in the arena of international law.... Its
scope is vast: it covers all ocean space, with all its uses,
including navigation and overflight; all uses of all its
resources, living and non-living, on the high seas, on the
ocean floor and beneath, on the continental shelf and in the
territorial seas; the protection of the marine environment;
and basic law and order.... The Convention is widely
recognised by the international community as the legal
framework within which all activities in the oceans and the
seas must be carried out. ("25th Anniversary of the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea," Oct. 17, 2007; emphasis
added.) Notice that this UN document, which was posted
by the UN's Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the
Sea, reveals that the UN’s understanding of LOST is that
it gives the UN authority over everything,
over, on, in, and under the oceans and seas of the world. That
includes both military and economic uses. That’s why it is so
important that the U.S. Senate does not ratify
LOST.
And, remember under the UN division that
administers LOST, our nation wouldn't have veto power like we
do in the UN Security Council. We'd have just one vote among
163 votes.
Yes, 162 nations have already ratified LOST,
and yes, the United States has already been implementing
nearly every chapter of the Law of the Sea Treaty since it
went into force in 1994 when 60 nations had ratified it.
However, U.S. ratification would provide that final stamp of
legitimacy for the UN’s power grab over the oceans and seas
and constitute a major step into world
government.
Therefore, we must hold the line.
Let your Senators know that they must not ratify
LOST.
Thanks.
Your Friends at The
John Birch Society
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Entire Thread
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Oppose Ratification of the UN's Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST)
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Russ
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05/18/12 04:23 PM
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