04 Oct 2007 Under Law of the Sea Treaty, Burmese Junta Has Purse String Powers

David Ridenour takes another look at the Law of the Sea Treaty, and still doesn’t like what he sees:

Brutal assaults on pro-democracy demonstrators, the arrest of 700 Buddhist monks, the complete obliteration of at least 18 villages, the dragging of pro-democracy demonstrators from their beds at night and the creation of millions of refugees……not exactly a resume that suggests “financial competence,” but it apparently does at the International Seabed Authority, a creation of the Law of the Sea Treaty.

You see, Myanmar, the name given Burma by its military junta, currently serves on the Finance Committee of the International Seabed Authority. The Finance Committee is responsible not only for recommending membership dues, but on how the proceeds are re-distributed. Until this year, the Burmese junta served on the International Seabed Authority’s 36-member Council, the ISA’s governing body, until it was replaced by that paragon of human rights and democracy…

…Vietnam.

More troubling is the fact that the Myanmar representative had to be elected to the five-year term on the Finance Committee. Also on the Committee are China, the Russian Federation, Uganda, and FOH Brazil (that’s “friend of Hugo”).

This provides a glimpse of how badly the deck is stacked against the U.S. under the Law of the Sea Treaty.

Nevertheless, the Senate appears poised to say “hit me.”