On eve of U.N. push for global government, advocates urge Senate to approve a building block: The Law of the Sea Treaty
Posted on 09/05/2005 8:59:17 AM PDT by Paul Ross
| Decision Brief | No. 05-D 44 | 2005-08-31 |
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On eve of U.N. push for global government, advocates urge Senate to approve a building block: The Law of the Sea Treaty
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(Washington, D.C.): As concern grows that the United Nations is intent on replacing what the National Security Guidance calls "an orderly arrangement of sovereign states" with a proto-world government - complete with the ability to impose international taxes, a new push is being made for a treaty that would advance that purpose: the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST).
This sovereignty-sapping agenda is at the heart of a dispute now playing out in Turtle Bay, where U.S. Permanent Representative John Bolton is resisting an initiative pushed by governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who are hostile to the United States and/or champions of a supranational government. Amb. Bolton is being savaged by the latter for wisely seeking over 500 changes to a draft Outcome Document envisioned for signature by heads of state and government at a High-Level Plenary Meeting of the UN General Assembly next month.
Yesterday, French President Jacques Chirac underscored his government's intention to push forward with one such tax - on international airline travel, both as a unilateral initiative and together with Germany, Spain, Algeria, Brazil and Chile at the UN meeting. According to the Associated Press, "French authorities said a tax of about $6 per passenger worldwide, with a $25 surcharge for business class, would generate about $12 billion a year. The contribution could be adjusted in poorer countries, so passengers there were not penalized."
The Establishment Strikes Back
It is against this unlikely backdrop, that a group of prominent former and present officials released today a letter to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist urging him to facilitate the "expeditious" ratification of a treaty that would help establish precedents useful to opponents of the Bush Administration at the UN and elsewhere: the Law of the Sea (LOST).
Despite the highly generalized praise for LOST offered by its proponents in the letter dated 31 August, the Treaty is problematic in a number of respects. For example, its governing body would be empowered to impose what amount to international taxes on resources extracted from the ocean floor and subsurface. Parties to the accord, moreover, are compelled to submit to what will, inevitably, be politicized tribunals like the World Court, whose decisions are binding and unappealable. It contains sweeping environmental obligations that make those entailed in the Kyoto accords pale by comparison - especially insofar as the Law of the Sea Tribunal has established that it believes its jurisdiction extends to activities on land and in the air if they might affect the world's oceans.
Perhaps most worrisome is the fact that LOST was shaped by individuals, NGOs and regimes that have sought to use such international agreements governing the so-called "common space" to constrain America's freedom of action and military power. This could be accomplished, were the United States to become a party to LOST, by the use of the Treaty's tribunal and/or arbitration panels to encumber U.S. intelligence collection and submarine activities, by insisting upon the transfer of militarily significant technology and information, and even by prohibiting the interdiction of vessels believed to be engaged in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Second Opinions
Opponents of the Law of the Sea Treaty have their own roster of influential figures who can go toe-to-toe on the implications of this accord with those who lent their name to the letter to Senator Frist. In fact, earlier this year, an array of organizations and individuals representing virtually the entire conservative movement joined a press conference at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) to release their own letter to Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Among those who participated were Senator James Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee; Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick; David Keene, Chairman of the American Conservative Union; Patrick Buchanan, author and commentator; Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform; Fred Smith, President, The Competitive Enterprise Institute and Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., President, Center for Security Policy.
Incredibly, the voices of such critics were not afforded an opportunity to be heard when, in the Fall of 2003, the Foreign Relations Committee last considered the Law of the Sea Treaty and approved a resolution of ratification. In the intervening period: serious opposition has emerged; the Treaty was returned to the Foreign Relations Committee with the end of the last session of Congress and must be considered by that panel, and others, afresh; and the Bush Administration has had to confront new realities. Of these, the most immediate is the fact that the sorts of problems inherent in this Treaty are of a piece with those it is currently confronting in the draft Outcome Document for the UN General Assembly meeting next month.
The Bottom Line
For these reasons, if Senator Frist feels the need to respond to the LOST proponents' new letter, it should be with an assurance that any further consideration by the Senate of this flawed treaty will be done in a manner that assures its defects as well as putative merits are carefully and deliberately examined. And, just as the United States must oppose global taxes and world-government-advancing programs at the UN this fall, it should do as Ronald Reagan did in 1982 - namely, reject the Law of the Sea Treaty.
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Agreed. I am afraid that Bolton was mere window-dressing to rescue the popular acceptance of the U.N. in the U.S., so that it's tentacles can be further expanded.
Notice how the Bush Administration has the thrust-reversers on full about doing anything about the Oil For Food scandal. How they, and Colin Powell, went out of their way to muzzle Senator Norm Coleman's inquiry.
Kofi Annan should already be chained in an orange jump suit...rigt next to Saddam himself.
ping
Any family ties to Frank Gaffney? If so, those would be rather tense family get-togethers...
Thanks for the ping
What has Bush done to strengthen our sovereignty? He and his cronies pushed CAFTA which weakens our sovereignty, he won't take a stand and protect our borders, he has not stopped the military from prosecuting our soldiers for things they had to do in times of war.
Tell me, other than appointing Bolton to the UN (Which I feel we should simply opt out of) has he done to strengthen our sovereignty?
By the way, nothing has changed vis-a-vis our treaty with the UN. If and when thing change you can use that as example.
If we were signatories of LOST at this time, what would happen to us when we start pumping out that toxic soup from NO. Would we be required to stop? Would we be fined some outrageous ten figure amount. Would the UN place sanctions against us?
Note post 35.
Note Ezekiel 35-39; Daniel 7-12;
Matt 24; Revelation all
Pay particular attention to the parts touching on the evil world government.
Remember that it's God Almighty writing.
It's not surprising who you find as signators of the letter.
http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/ProLOSTletter.pdf
David G. Burney
Executive Director, U.S. Tuna Foundation
Joseph J. Cox
President and CEO, Chamber of Shipping of America
David D. Caron
Program Director, Law of the Sea Institute, University of California, Berkeley
Walter Cronkite
CBS
Red Cavaney
President and CEO, American Petroleum Institute
Admiral William J. Crowe, Jr.
Admiral, U.S. Navy (Retired); Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff;
Chairman, Advisory Board, Global Options, Inc.
Clarence P. Cazalot, Jr.
President and CEO, Marathon Oil Corporation
Ann D’Amato
Chief of Staff, Office of City Attorney, Los Angeles
Eileen Claussen
President and Chair of the Board, Pew Center on Global Climate Change
Thomas Dammrich
President, National Marine Manufacturers Association
James M. Coleman
Professor, Coastal Studies Institute, Louisiana State University
Lawrence R. Dickerson
President and COO, Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc.
Donald L. Evans
Former Secretary of Commerce
Governor Christine Gregoire
State of Washington
Thomas Fry
President, National Ocean Industries Association
Carlotta A. Leon Guerrero
Executive Director, Ayuda Foundation, Micronesia Medical Missions
Paul G. Gaffney II
President, Monmouth University
Representative Lee Hamilton
President and Director, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Robert B. Gagosian
President and Director, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Mike Hayden
Secretary, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks
Representative James C. Greenwood
President and CEO, Biotechnology Industry Organization
Geoffrey Heal
Professor, Graduate School of Business,
Columbia University
Marc J. Hershman
Professor, School of Marine Affairs, University of Washington
Tony Knowles
Former Governor of Alaska
Carla A. Hills
Former U.S. Trade Representative, Chairman and CEO, Hills & Company
Christopher L. Koch
President and CEO, World Shipping Council
Senator Ernest F. Hollings
Hollings Cancer Center
Governor Ted Kulongoski
State of Oregon
Paul L. Kelly
Senior Vice President, Rowan Companies, Inc.
Governor Linda Lingle
State of Hawaii
Donald Kennedy, Ph.D.
Editor-in Chief, Science Magazine
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Jane Lubchenco
Professor, Department of Zoology, Oregon State University
Charles F. Kennel
Director, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego
Robert C. McFarlane
Former National Security Advisor
Chairman, Energy and Communications Solutions LLC
John Norton Moore
Director, Center for Oceans Law and Policy, University of Virginia School of Law
Julie Packard
Executive Director, Monterey Bay Aquarium
Frank E. Muller-Karger
Professor, College of Marine Science, University of South Florida
Pietro Parravano
President, Institute for Fisheries Resources
James J. Mulva
Chairman and CEO, ConocoPhillips
Governor George E. Pataki
State of New York
George B. Newton, Jr.
Chairman, U.S. Arctic Research Commission
Brian T. Petty
Senior Vice President,
International Association of Drilling Contractors
Senator Sam Nunn
Co-Chairman and CEO, The Nuclear Threat Initiative
Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering
Former Under Secretary for Political Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Sean O’Keefe
Former NASA Administrator, Chancellor, Louisiana State University
Colin Powell
Former Secretary of State
Joseph W. Prueher
Admiral, U.S. Navy (Retired)
William D. Ruckelshaus
Strategic Director, Madrona Venture Group
Edward B. Rasmuson
Chairman of the Statewide Advisory Board, Wells Fargo Bank
Roger T. Rufe, Jr.
President, The Ocean Conservancy
William K. Reilly
Former EPA Administrator, Chairman, World Wildlife Fund
Barry Russell
President, Independent Petroleum Association of America
Joseph P. Riley, Jr.
Mayor of Charleston, South Carolina
Paul A. Sandifer
Senior Scientist, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
David Rockefeller, Jr.
Vice Chair, National Park Foundation
William L. Schachte, Jr.
Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (Retired)
Andrew A. Rosenberg
Professor, Department of Natural Resources and Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space, University of New Hampshire
Harry N. Scheiber
Co-Director, Law of the Sea Institute, University of California, Berkeley
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State of California
Governor Togiola Tulafono
U.S. Territory of American Samoa
Kathryn Sullivan
President and CEO, Center of Science and Industry
Marilyn Ware
Chairman Emeritus, American Water
Strobe Talbott
Richard D. West
President, Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education
Russell E. Train
Chairman Emeritus, World Wildlife Fund
Patten D. White
CEO, Maine Lobstermen’s Association
Instead of paraphrasing, all Conservatives should take the time to read George Washington's Farewell Address. The admonitions are as timely today, as when it was written in 1796. Moreover, Washington's carefully presented reasoning behind his conclusions, is more apt than just about anything you will read today.
(Bracketed comment mine)
Thanks for the link, Ohioan. It appears every admonition Washington offered was ignored -- and even to this day. We are so accustomed to being the re-actors to the whims of government we forgot that we the people are supposed to be the pro-actors.
Is it time to say that most of our Constitution has been overthrown indirectly?
One can certainly make that argument.
If you review the Congressional Debates, over the generations, you will note, I think, a decline in the amount of discussion that even takes place on the Constitutionality of legislation. At the same time, there has been an enormous increase in legislation completely outside anything even mentioned in the Constitution.
Your question is a very apt one.
Socialist is as socialist does..
The Third Way Fourth Reich guys are even more deadly...
imo
One such writer is D. James L. Hirsen, Ph.D., who has written a remarkable book entitled: "The Coming Collision -- Global Law VS. U.S. Liberties" (ISBN 1-563-84-163-0; Huntington House Publishers).
Dr. Hirsen sounds a critical alarm concerning the global activists and their plan to implement a global agenda using the "powerful weight of international law."
Definitely recommend this book should be in the hands of everyone concerned with the slow erosion of our personal liberties and our national sovereignty.
BUMP!
Agree. EVERYONE should be contacting their Senator/Congressperson, as well as, Frist, Hastert. This came up last year, then died a bit, now they're pushing it again. I emailed last year too. The "international tribunals" are very troubling!
Bttt...for attention to the global power grab that never seems to die.
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