Law of the Sea Treaty on hold--for now.

In late February, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee quietly approved the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (also called the Law of the Sea Treaty, or LOST), which surrenders control over the world's oceans and the wealth therein to UN control. Ratification of the treaty is supported by the supposedly anti-UN Bush administration. "This administration continues to believe there are compelling reasons for the United States to become a party to this [treaty]," declared Assistant Secretary of State John E Turner, insisting that "the United States stands to benefit more than may other nation from the convention."

In fact, the United States has the most to lose if LOST is ratified by the Senate. According to Aaron Danzig, former chairman of the World Peace Through Law Center (which supports the pact), creation of the treaty "was prompted in part by the discovery that vast riches of manganese, cobalt, nickel and copper lie in the seabed. It was thought that the profit from mining these resources could be used to improve the lot of underdeveloped countries."

In other words, the treaty would designate the riches of the sea as a "common heritage of mankind" and inaugurate an immense exercise in Marxist wealth redistribution. The plunder would be supervised by a UN-connected entity called the "Enterprise," which would issue permits to, and impose taxes on, companies involved in undersea mining and oil drilling.

As reported in these pages last year (see our Insider Report item "UN's Law of the Sea Caper," in our February 24, 2003 issue), a group of cartographers at the University of New Brunswick "is redrawing the world's oceans under new rules set by the United Nations, divvying up trillions of dollars worth of natural resources in huge chunks of the sea floor." UNB mapper David Monahan brazenly refers to this as the "largest land grab in human history": "I think of it as the world ocean being divided up by this [LOST] treaty, that's two thirds of the world's surface."

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works, describes himself as "troubled about the implications of this convention on our national security," as well as its provisions dictating environmental policies to participating nations.

Despite support from both the Bush administration and much of the Republican leadership, LOST may not come up for a ratification vote this year. Nonetheless, Americans concerned about our sovereignty and prosperity should contact their respective senators and instruct them to oppose any motion to ratify this treaty, which is nothing less than an unprecedented act of territorial aggression against our nation by the UN.