PHThe US is not a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea or UNCLOS.
Russia however, is.
Surprised? Here’s more:
In December of 2023 the Americans announced they are preparing to make a territorial claim by extending the seabed boundaries of the Alaskan peninsula in the Bering Strait just across Russia’s Siberian coast of their northeastern most Arctic boundary.
This claim will extend the US continental shelf and by default their sovereign territory, and in effect extend American soil closer and closer to Russia.
Although the latest American territorial claim doesn’t overlap with Russia’s, the Russians have vehemently opposed the American claims citing the US is not party to UNCLOS — the UN body that for all intents and purposes adjudicates such claims.
While the Americans, her allies, and now more often Filipino intellectuals point to the “rules-based international order” or the “rules-based order founded on international law”, what most people fail to see is whose ‘law’ and whose ‘order’ are they referring to.
As far as the Americans and the Collective West are concerned they set the law and the shape of the order ONLY to their advantage but will aggressively and willfully VIOLATE the same if they find a certain situation adverse to their own — I repeat, THEIR OWN — strategic interests.
We don’t need to look back half or even a quarter century of American hegemonic history. This happened only in December of 2023.
This is one more global flashpoint most of us don’t know: the militarization of the Arctic where global superpowers like the Chinese, Russia, the US and her allies are staking claims out in the Arctic region.
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From the article:
New U.S. claims to seabed territory off Alaska have run into an obstacle: an objection from the Russian government.
The Russian government, which has staked territorial claims to most of the Arctic Ocean, is challenging the U.S. claims made in December to sovereignty over 520,400 square kilometers of extended outer continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean – an area bigger than California — and another 176,330 square kilometers in the Bering Sea.
The U.S. does not have the right to make such claims because it is not a party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Russia’s delegation argued at a meeting in Jamaica last month of the International Seabed Commission.
“We categorically reject the selective approach of the United States of America to the use of international law, with an emphasis on its rights and a complete disregard for obligations,” the delegation’s statement said.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said the Russian objection is puzzling because the claims made in December by the U.S. State Department did not overlap any territory claimed by Russia.
“I don’t know whether they would do it other than just to be obstreperous. But that wouldn’t be surprising,” she said at a Thursday news conference in Anchorage.
Whatever grounds Russia might cite, its objection is an example of how the U.S. is at a disadvantage because it has not ratified the Law of the Sea treaty, under which such claims are adjudicated, she said.
Russia however, is.
Surprised? Here’s more:
In December of 2023 the Americans announced they are preparing to make a territorial claim by extending the seabed boundaries of the Alaskan peninsula in the Bering Strait just across Russia’s Siberian coast of their northeastern most Arctic boundary.
This claim will extend the US continental shelf and by default their sovereign territory, and in effect extend American soil closer and closer to Russia.
Although the latest American territorial claim doesn’t overlap with Russia’s, the Russians have vehemently opposed the American claims citing the US is not party to UNCLOS — the UN body that for all intents and purposes adjudicates such claims.
While the Americans, her allies, and now more often Filipino intellectuals point to the “rules-based international order” or the “rules-based order founded on international law”, what most people fail to see is whose ‘law’ and whose ‘order’ are they referring to.
As far as the Americans and the Collective West are concerned they set the law and the shape of the order ONLY to their advantage but will aggressively and willfully VIOLATE the same if they find a certain situation adverse to their own — I repeat, THEIR OWN — strategic interests.
We don’t need to look back half or even a quarter century of American hegemonic history. This happened only in December of 2023.
This is one more global flashpoint most of us don’t know: the militarization of the Arctic where global superpowers like the Chinese, Russia, the US and her allies are staking claims out in the Arctic region.
—
From the article:
New U.S. claims to seabed territory off Alaska have run into an obstacle: an objection from the Russian government.
The Russian government, which has staked territorial claims to most of the Arctic Ocean, is challenging the U.S. claims made in December to sovereignty over 520,400 square kilometers of extended outer continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean – an area bigger than California — and another 176,330 square kilometers in the Bering Sea.
The U.S. does not have the right to make such claims because it is not a party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Russia’s delegation argued at a meeting in Jamaica last month of the International Seabed Commission.
“We categorically reject the selective approach of the United States of America to the use of international law, with an emphasis on its rights and a complete disregard for obligations,” the delegation’s statement said.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said the Russian objection is puzzling because the claims made in December by the U.S. State Department did not overlap any territory claimed by Russia.
“I don’t know whether they would do it other than just to be obstreperous. But that wouldn’t be surprising,” she said at a Thursday news conference in Anchorage.
Whatever grounds Russia might cite, its objection is an example of how the U.S. is at a disadvantage because it has not ratified the Law of the Sea treaty, under which such claims are adjudicated, she said.