Posted on 05/28/2008 8:22:30 PM PDT by Dawnsblood
Michael Byers, professor of global politics and international law at the University of British Columbia, said Ottawa should pay closer attention to co-operation with its Arctic neighbours and not engage in "conflict and heated rhetoric."
Byers said Canada cannot back up strong words with the hardware needed to assert sovereignty in the North.
Byers and other critics say Canada's surveillance and control of the North falls short, even with Ottawa's recent plans for a bigger military presence.
Norway, the United States, Denmark and Russia also have claims in the vast region.
Denmark is gathering scientific evidence to show that the Lomonosov Ridge, a 2,000-kilometre underwater mountain range, is attached to Greenland, making it a geological extension of the island.
Under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Arctic countries have 10 years after ratification to prove their claims under the largely uncharted polar ice pack. All countries with claims to the Arctic have ratified the treaty, with the exception of the United States.
President George W. Bush has been pushing the U.S. Senate to ratify the treaty.
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, Bush said in October. Opponents say that the agreement would impinge on U.S. military and economic sovereignty.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnews.canoe.ca ...
Balderdash!! The North Pole belongs to Santa Claus and nobody else.
We don’t need a “Treaty of the Sea”. Just tell the world where we believe our “economic zone” ends, and let them cross that line if they dare.
>President George W. Bush has been pushing the U.S. Senate to ratify the treaty.<
Bush sucks!
Pushing? The treaty is in effect. Whether or not the US signs is irrelevant.
What is significant about this is that these individual nations can get together to reach a compromise to carve up an area, then sanction it thru the Commission on the Continental Shelf.
It is in the US's interests for the Arctic to be international waters. While the US can and is participating in these negotiations, because the US has not signed the treaty, she has less, or little, influence on the outcome.
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