Blue Collar Muse

Lost in the political clutter that is the debate on Immigration Reform is LOST, the Law Of the Sea Treaty. This is currently before the Senate for debate and, like the Immigration Reform legislation, presents a serious threat to US sovereignty.

LOST came up for debate in the 80’s Reagan Administration where it was soundly defeated being,

… viewed as the cornerstone of a New International Economic Order that would transfer money and technology from the U.S. and other developed countries to the Third World.

Tom DeWeese reports Reagan was so opposed to the treaty he actually fired the US State Department staff that negotiated it!

Cliff Kincaid of America’s Survival, Inc said, as reported at World Net Daily

… at a time when the U.N. is under fire for mismanagement, corruption and scandal, LOST establishes a new international legal regime, including an International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, to govern activities on, over and under the world’s oceans.

The treaty explicitly governs seven-tenths of the world’s surface and permits international rules and regulations concerning economic and industrial activities on the land area of the world in order to combat global warming and other perceived pollution dangers.

Just how this might be accomplished is nicely outlined in a brief article by Rebecca Hagelin, ‘Sovereignty at Stake: Losing Under a “lost” treaty’. Rebecca notes that LOST will make possible the following:

Start with national security. In an issue of Legion magazine, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., argued against LOST, writing: “Under the treaty, the United States could not board a foreign vessel even if it is suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction. Our warships couldn’t board “unless there is reasonable ground for suspecting that the ship is engaged in piracy … the slave trade … unauthorized broadcasting” or “being without nationality.”

Also deeply troubling, from a sovereignty perspective, is Section 4 of the Treaty. It would establish an “International Seabed Authority,” which, according to Baker Spring, would enjoy jurisdiction over all the world’s oceans and seabed outside of current national boundaries. The Authority’s powers would supersede the sovereign powers of nations that are party to the treaty. In short, it would be the boss. If we disagreed with its ruling, tough.

It gets worse. As Spring notes in a new Heritage paper co-authored with U.N. expert Brett Schaefer and former Attorney General Edwin Meese, the international bureaucrats empowered by LOST would be able to “impose direct levies on the revenues of U.S. companies generated through the extraction of resources from deep seabed.” Incredible. Foreign officials could tax Americans — could profit from our hard work. Good luck explaining that one to the next generation of Americans.

Here’s a larger question: Why would we choose to put our sea-faring interests in the hands of a new U.N. group? As the Heritage experts point out, the International Seabed Authority would be vulnerable to the same corrupt practices that have plagued the U.N. for years.

There’s a veritable Who’s Who of Conservatives opposed to the measure. The Liberty Committee has graciously posted a page with articles from many of them on the folly of ratifying this treaty and making the US subject to its terms.

Read the articles, inform yourself on the issue and when you call your Senator to tell him you oppose the Immigration Bill, mention that LOST needs to be lost - in time, in space and at sea …

Hoping we’ve heard the last from LOST …

Blue Collar Muse

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 24th, 2007 at 4:43 am and is filed under America First, Conservative, Geopolitics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.