Tea Party appears to have killed Law of the Sea Treaty

[muriel_volestrangler]

(The Maddow's blog title is "GOP appears...", but when you see that the GOP establishment - Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, James Baker, Colin Powell, and Condoleezza Rice - wanted it to pass, as did the frickin' Bush administration, it's clear this was the wingnuts who have taken control of the Republican senators)

As of today, 34 Republican senators have expressed opposition to Senate ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty, a number that would add up to rejection of the treaty if all those senators vote against it when it comes to the Senate floor.

"This is Victory Day for U.S. sovereignty in the Senate," Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), a passionate opponent of the treaty, proclaimed on the Senate floor late Monday. "With 34 opposed to LOST (the treaty), this debate is over."

Inhofe's declaration of victory came after two Republican senators, Romney surrogates Rob Portman (R-OH) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), announced Monday they would vote against the treaty.

"We simply are not persuaded that decisions by the International Seabed Authority and international tribunals empowered by this treaty will be more favorable to U.S. interests than bilateral negotiations, voluntary arbitration, and other traditional means of resolving maritime issues," the two senators said in a joint statement. "No international organization owns the seas, and we are confident that our country will continue to protect its navigational freedom, valid territorial claims, and other maritime rights."

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/07/16/law_of_the_sea_treaty_dead_in_the_water

It's become extremely difficult -- far more difficult than any point in American history -- for Congress to pass legislation. But treaties are even harder, since they require 67 votes for passage. Even if every member of the Democratic caucus backs a treaty, it would need 14 Republicans to go along, and in this Congress, that's an implausibly high number.

This is particularly relevant this week because of the Law of the Sea Treaty, negotiated 18 years ago, and ratified by 161 countries around the globe. Here in the U.S., it's been endorsed by the Clinton administration, the Bush administration, the Obama administration, business leaders, the State Department, the Pentagon, the Joint Chiefs, and specifically U.S. Navy leaders who, as Josh Rogin explained, see the measure as necessary "to allow the United States to fully participate in the growing multinational system that governs the open seas."
...
What happened? Why would Republicans dismiss the pleas of American military leaders? Well, it's an odd story.

As Kerry and Lugar began their efforts in earnest, so too did far-right activists, who had irrational fears, based on little more than paranoia, that the measure would give the United Nations power over American laws. Fox News and other conservative media outlets soon began trumpeting the talking points, which were aggressively pushed by John Bolton and other extremists, that our "sovereignty" was being put at risk by treaty backers, including the U.S. military.

http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/17/12790778-gop-appears-to-have-killed-law-of-the-sea-treaty

[pampango]

1. The Texas GOP party platform makes specific mention of defeating the UN Law of the Sea

National Sovereignty – We insist that the President and Congress defend our national sovereignty in accordance with their oaths of office. Therefore we believe the United States government must remain free of external control or influence, including, but not limited to, a North American Union and a security and prosperity partnership.

United Nations – We support the withdrawal of the United States from the United Nations and the removal of U.N. headquarters from U.S. soil.

Law of the Sea – Adopted by the UN in 1982, we still oppose the Law of the Sea Treaty.

UN Treaty on the Rights of the Child ― We unequivocally oppose the United States Senate’s ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

United Nations Agenda 21 -The Republican Party of Texas should expose all United Nations Agenda 21 treaty policies and its supporting organizations, agreements and contracts. We oppose implementation of the UN Agenda 21 Program which was adopted at the Earth Summit Conference in 1992 purporting to promote a comprehensive program of sustainable development projects, nationally, regionally and locally.

Cap and Trade – We oppose Cap and Trade (“Cap and Tax”).

International Organizations – We support U.S. withdrawal from the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and the World Bank.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/texasgop_pre/assets/original/2012Platform_Final.pdf