STATE DEPT. GIVES AWAY OIL-RICH ISLANDS

Obama’s Giveaway: Oil-Rich Islands to Russia

http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/obamas-giveaway-oil-rich-islands-to-russia/

WND – Joe Miller – 2/16/2012

Part of Obama’s apparent war against U.S. energy independence includes a foreign-aid program that directly threatens Alaska. Obama’s State Department is giving away seven strategic, resource-laden Alaskan islands to the Russians.

The Russians are also to get the tens of thousands of square miles of oil-rich seabeds surrounding the islands. The Department of Interior estimates billions of barrels of oil are at stake.

The State Department has undertaken the giveaway in the guise of a maritime boundary agreement between Alaska and Siberia. Astoundingly, our federal government itself drew the line to put these seven Alaskan islands on the Russian side. But as an executive agreement, it could be reversed with the stroke of a pen by President Obama or Secretary Clinton.

The agreement was negotiated in total secrecy. The state of Alaska was not allowed to participate in the negotiations, nor was the public given any opportunity for comment. This is despite the fact the Alaska Legislature has passed resolutions of opposition – but the State Department doesn’t seem to care.

Summary - Giveaway of 8 American Alaskan Islands to the Russian Governmetn

http://www.statedepartmentwatch.org/GiveawaySummary.htm

 In 1977 the Soviets eagerly accepted the concept of the proposed maritime boundary line,

but no formal agreement was reached until 1990.  At least 10 rounds of secret negotiations

occurred through the Carter, Reagan, and Bush Administrations with no public, Congressional,

or State of Alaska input sought by the State Department.  According to State Department

documents, for 13 years the Soviets were demanding even more seabeds along the Bering

Sea part of the line.  The Soviets wanted to draw the line as a "rhumb line", that is, a straight

line between the two end points on a flat mercator projection map, rather than an "arc of a

great circle", which is the shortest distance between two points on a sphere. The "rhumb line"

version would give the Soviets another 50,000 square miles of seabeds along the 1000-mile

length.  Eventually, a compromise line was adopted in 1990.  It also created unprecedented

"Special Eastern Areas" and "Special Western Areas", which allowed each government to

exercise sovereignty on the other's side of the maritime boundary line.  At no time did the

State Department demand to keep the 8 American Alaskan islands and resource-rich

seabeds from the Soviets/Russians..

The 8 American Alaskan Islands

     The eight American Alaskan islands include five in the Arctic Ocean and three in the

Bering Sea.  The history of the five Arctic islands present heroic achievements of American

exploration in the Arctic.  They could not have been acquired from the Russians in 1867,

inasmuch as the Russians had not even discovered or claimed them.   The three in the

Bering Sea were acquired under the 1867 treaty.

Recommended Corrective Actions 

     1.  Congress should pass legislation memorializing the policy that maritime

boundaries can be established only by treaty, and that if a maritime boundary affects a

state's territory, sovereignty, jurisdiction, or property interests, then the state must

participate in the negotiations and consent to the terms that affect the state.

     2.  Congress should hold hearings to require the State Department to reveal

(a) any and all actions, directives, and personnel involved in implementing its maritime

boundary executive agreement, and (b) any actions, directives, and personnel involved in

recognizing Russian control or sovereignty over Wrangell, Herald, Bennett, Jeannette,

Henrietta, or Copper Islands or Sea Otter Rock or Sea Lion Rock.

     3.   The State Department should expand on the "Fact Sheet" on "Status of

Wrangell [sic] and Other Arctic Islands" to prove its assertions, and to revise its shortcomings.

4.  The State of Alaska should sue the federal government to enforce its rights.

     5.  All other states should express their support for the State of Alaska.  If the State

Department is allowed to give away part of a state to a foreign power and to establish a

boundary between that state and a foreign country without that state's participation or consent,

then all states are in peril of losing their important federal status.

     6.  The Department of the Interior should evaluate the oil, gas, and other mineral

potential, and the Department of Commerce should evaluate the fishery potential for the

seabeds in the Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean under consideration, so that the value to the

American public can play an appropriate place in negotiations with the Russians.

     7.  The Department of State should renounce the executive agreement that Secretary

of State James A. Baker III signed.  It should renegotiate a maritime boundary which reflects

that the American bargaining position that has improved substantially since 1990 vis-a-vis

the Russian government.

     8.  The Senate should renounce any vote on the proposed treaty, inasmuch as it

was not given a full and candid presentation by the State Department and was never informed

by the State Department from 1977-1990 of the negotiations so that Senate could exercise

its "advice" authority under the "advice and consent" clause of the Constitution.

     9.  Prosecutions should commence against all officials who have participated in

this giveaway, including all civil and criminal offenses of state and federal law.

Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country - northwoodspatriotscomm@gmail.com