U. S. State Department Helps Russian Bogus Claim to North Pole

U. S. State Department Helps
Russian Bogus Claim to North Pole

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The U. S. State Department is actively helping the Russian government in its bogus claim to the seabeds under the North Pole and beyond.  The North Pole seabeds may actually be American.     Five American islands lie between the Russian mainland and the North Pole:  Wrangell, Herald, Bennett, Jeannette, and Henrietta. (See map below.) The State Department has agreed with the Russian government to a de facto abandonment of American sovereignty over these islands and the 200-mile exclusive economic zones around them without any Congressional or public review.      The 1990 maritime boundary agreement was secretly negotiated by the State Department.  This executive agreement sets a maritime boundary between Alaska and Siberia that put the five American islands in the Arctic and their exclusive economic zones on the Russian side.  It was signed by Secretary of State James A. Baker III.  Congress, the State of Alaska, and the American public were excluded from any participation.  Tens of thousands of square miles of valuable seabeds were surrendered to the Russians without any benefit to the American public.  Billions of barrels of oil and gas resources along with vast fisheries have effectively been given away to the Russians by the State Department.      Over the past two decades the State Department has received tens of thousands of petitions to stop the giveaway.  The legislatures of the States of Alaska and California have protested.  Numerous national and local groups have urged a stop to the giveaway.  The executive agreement could be revoked with the stroke of a pen.  However, the State Department adamantly defends the giveaway.      The State Department should actively be asserting American sovereignty over these five islands and explore what claims the exclusive economic zones and outercontinental shelf entitle the United States to the North Pole seabeds.

Mainland Alaska (above)                                                                           Depths are in meters.