=A: They don’t call it a “tax,” that’s true. They call it “fees” or “royalties.” But the money flows to the International Seabed Authority for the right to go after certain gas and oil and mineral deposits. There’s no question about this. The United Nations Association, which is backing the treaty, has described it as providing the first source of independent revenue for the United Nations.
=Q: What's the biggest and most important thing wrong with LOST?
=A: The biggest thing wrong with it is that it is yet another United Nations project to give the world body more power, authority and influence over world affairs. The idea that the U.N. -- a notoriously corrupt and incompetent body, which squandered billions in the oil-for-food program with Iraq -- should now have jurisdiction over seven-tenths of the world surface, with money coming from American companies, is ludicrous.
=Q: But why are the Bush administration, the Pentagon and some mining companies in favor of LOST?
=A: I think what is driving support for the treaty is the Navy’s claim that it somehow offers some sort of protection for American interests around the world -- that it solidifies navigational rights on the high seas. But I believe that the Navy has taken this position because of two things: One, the influence of international lawyers in the Judge Advocate General (JAG) offices; and two, the dramatic decline in the number of Navy ships. We have gone from 594 under President Reagan to only 276 today.
I was at a symposium where a State Department official blurted out, candidly, “Oh, we need the Law of the Sea Treaty because we don’t have enough ships anymore to protect American interests." This idea that we should substitute a piece of paper with a U.N. rubber stamp on it for the necessity for building more ships is crazy.
But look at it from the point of view of U.S. corporations that want to get into these international waters and go after the oil, gas and minerals. If the Navy is not going to protect them, then what alternative do they have? They’re following the Navy’s lead in concluding, “Well, I guess we better support this treaty because it’s better than nothing.”
=Q: Who is supporting this treaty and why?
=A: People who have been pushing this treaty over the years in the Senate include the most liberal members -- not only Joe Biden, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, but also Sen. Richard Lugar, the top-ranking Republican on the committee. The people outside of the Senate who have really vigorously been promoting the treaty in addition to those you named are the special interest groups that are associated with the world-government movement.
=Q: Given the current makeup of the Senate, is it a done deal that it will be ratified?
=A: We are looking at a lot of undecideds on this issue right now. Certainly, supporters of the treaty can count on the liberal Democrats. The question is, “What are Republican conservatives going to do?” … We think a number of conservative Republican senators will end up opposing it. The question is, in the end, will we get the 34 votes to stop it.
=Q: What happens if the treaty is not stopped?
=A: If it’s not stopped, of course, the process will begin of turning over the resources of the oceans to the United Nations. We will have to hire more international lawyers to defend our interests before all of these foreign judges that run their tribunal and so-called "dispute-resolution" panels. It will be another sign of the decline of the United States and our weakness that we are not the superpower we used to be.