Vanguard of Freedom
Liberty News Network
5/11/2012
While Senator Jim DeMint circulates a letter opposing the Law of the Sea Treaty, Obama Administration Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, was urging the Law of the Sea Convention forum attendees in Washington D.C. to support the treaty. Jim Garamone of the American Forces Press Service reports the Secretary said:
“First, as the world’s preeminent maritime power, and the country with one of the largest coastlines and extended continental shelf, we have more to gain from accession to the convention than any other country…Right now, the United States has no seat at the table and is unable to help interpret the “rules of the road” on the oceans. Ratifying the convention “would give us the credibility to support and promote the peaceful resolution of disputes within a rules-based order…by joining the convention, the United States would protect its navigational freedoms and global access for military and commercial ships, aircraft, and undersea fiber optic cables. American rights on the seas, he said, currently rely on customary international laws, which can change…”
Fred Lucas of CNSNews.com offers this contrasting argument from Senator Jim DeMint, in the letter he is circulating against the treaty to fellow Senators:
“By its current terms, the Law of the Sea Convention encompasses economic and technology interests in the deep sea, redistribution of wealth from developed to undeveloped nations, freedom of navigation in the deep sea and exclusive economic zones which may impact maritime security, and environmental regulation over virtually all sources of pollution…” (See Demint Make the case against the “LOST” Treaty)…
…while Senator Demint’s efforts to counter the negative aspects of the Law of the Sea Treaty are formidable, there are powerful forces working against him making it difficult for him to prevail…
Read the entire article at Liberty News.
