Factoid/2004/07/01
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< Beachapedia:Factoid | 2004 | 07
Arch Conservatives Holding Up USA Ratification of the Law of the Sea
- Mark Helmke, an aide to the [Senate Foreign Relations] committee's chair, Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), made the following comments: "Any rational Beltway official -- including the president, Colin Powell, and Condi Rice -- will tell you that ratification of the treaty is critical to the strength of our Navy, our national security, our economy, and the global environment, and that the failure to ratify signals to the world that the United States flouts multilateralism." Currently, 145 countries have signed onto the Law of the Sea, including every other member of the U.N. Security Council. But there's one U.S. constituency that doesn't like the treaty -- arch-conservatives who reject multilateralism in all its forms on ideological grounds. "Basically, we have a bunch of fringe, armchair, isolationist ideologues who are holding up this treaty, and the Bush administration's political office has made a calculated decision to let them have their way," Helmke said. � excerpt from the Grist Magazine article at http://www.gristmagazine.com/muck/muck061704.asp?source=daily
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