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Show - .. .1 . . a . i i I '! - - Saturday, August 18, 2007 I"' DAILY P nvir 'i HERALD AS EDITORIAL Daily Ucrali BOARD Oraig Dennis, President A Publisher Randy Wright, Executive Editor GUEST OPINION srace Ariel Cohen y planting the Russian flag on the seabed un-der the North Me and claiming a sector of the continental shelf the size of Western Europe, Moscow has crated a new source of international tension, seemingly out ofthebhie. Geopolitics and geoeconomics .are driving Moscows latest moves. Geologists believe that a quarter of the worlds ofl and gas of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of gas may be located oq the Arctic continental shelf and possibly under the polar cap. The Arctic frontier also harbors precious ferrous and metals, as well as . diamonds. At today's prices, these riches may be worth hundreds of billions of dollars. And if the ice caps melt and shrink, not only will these resources will be more accessible than they are today, but a new sea route along the northern coast of Eurasia may be open to reach them. Russia's attempted grab is a cause for Concern. The United States must engage its allies, especially Canada and the Nordic countries, to formulate a strong ' non-ferro- response. Russia's claim has a political dimension. The exploration and exploitation erf polar petroleum and other, resources may be the kind of opportunity that allows Russia to become what Resident Vladimir Putin has termed "an energy superpower. In 2001, Russia filed a claim to expand the continental shelf with the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf under the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOD, to which it is a party. In response, the commission rdused to accept or reject the Rus- sian claim and demanded more study, Russia is planning to resubmit the claim and expects an answer by 2010. Russia's claims are literally on thin ice. Moscow is extending its claim to the Arctic Ocean seabed based on its control of the Lomonosov Ridge and the Mendeleev Ridge, two underwater geological structures that jut into the ocean from the Russian conti-- ' nentajshelf. Those ridges, however, do not extend far enough to justify . e Moscows claims beyond its economic zone, and other countries also claim control of the same area in the Arctic. This latest move by Moscow is a. chilling throwback to the attempts during the 1930s to conquer the Arctic. Joseph Stalinand his henchmen executed "enemies of the people fay the hundreds of thousands, after 'modi trials, in the basements of the 200-mil- ' - Lubyanka secret police headquarters and in unnamed killing sites in the wqpds. Those not yet arrested were forced to applaud the heroes of the Arctic pilots, sailors andexplor-er- a in a macabre celebration of Stalinist tyranny. To the regime's critics, today's expedition is a dulling reminder of the brutal era when millions of Gulag prisoners were sent to the frozen expanses to build senseless megfrprojects for the power-ma- d dictator. .. The Uuted States and its allies are not interested in a new Cold War in the Arctic. A crisis over Russian claims in the Afctic is avoidable if Russia is prepared to behave in a mare civilized manner. If Moscow suggests exploring the Arctics wealth in a cooperative fashion -- r in partnership with the United States and other countries this could become a productive project that ' furthers international cooperation. However, Moscow's current rush to. dominate the Arctic Ocean and under it indicates that greed and aggression motivate the new .. ' t Russian polar bear. and Legal diplomatic act ion is a ' necessary response. The U.S. State ;. its has Department skeptiexpressed cism regarding the planting of the Russian flag arid stated that the act does not have any legal effect. Canada has voiced similar objections. To block Russia's grab, the United States should encourage its friends ; and allies especially Canada, to pursue Denmark and Norway their own claims with the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. While the United States ; has not ratified LOST, other Arctic ; countries, including Norway and Denmark; have filed claims with the commission in opposition to Russia's claims. The United States should also encourage Canada, to coordinate a possible claim through the International Justice Court in The Hague ' against the Russian grab, which the United States may join. .. Russias decision to take an ag- -' " gressive stand has left the United States, Canada and the Nordic countries little choice but to forge a cooperative High North strategy and in-vite other friendly countries, such as' Britain, to help build a Western pres--, ence in the Arctic! This will probably have to indude a fleet erf modem icebreakers, submersibles, geophys-ksseisnu- c vessels and polar aircraft There is too much at stake to leave the Arctic to the Russian bear. . ..A . ft'. : - J. S V : . VlY1DrT?lfculfeGfeiiMmwi7 Ariel Cohen is a senior research fellow In Russian and Eurasian studies at The Heritage : Foundation. MEDIA VOICES Justice, From the Los Angeles Times, Aug. 17, 2007 conviction of Jose Padilla his peers The a jurythatof accused terrorists can be tried in civilian courts offering a panoply of protections for the defendant. But if Tuesday's verdict is a vindication of the rule of law -- andA rebuke to those who would circumvent it - the legal shell game to which Padilla was subjected continues to shame the administration. conIn finding the Brooklyn-bor- n vert to Islam and two guilty of providing support to terrorist groups abroad, a Miami jury gave the lie to the notion that accused terrorists can be brought to justice only by tribunals - such as the military . commissions established at Guan- tanamo Bay - that lack traditional legal protections. Indeed, this isn't the first jury to do justice in a terrorism case. Almost a decade ago; a jury in New York convicted the architect of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. t jm year, a jury in Virginia imposed a life sentence on Zacarias Mouss-aou-i, a confessed conspirator in the . even more devastating attack of Sept. 1L 200 L RfiFr The Bush administration was unhappy that Moussaoui wasnt sentenced to death, although it thanked the Padilla jury for "upholding a core American principle of impartial justice for all." In fact, both juries did their duty. Inthe case of Padilla, however, the administration only filed criminal charges with great reluctance and only because it feared the wrath of the U.S. Supreme Court. That indictment came after Padilla, an American citizen arrested on American soil, was held for 3 12 years without trial as an , . enemy combatant on the theory, later discarded, that he planned to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb in this country. In 200i when the Supreme Court ruled that Yaser Esam Hamdi, an-other U.S. citizen held as an enemy combatant, could challenge his confinement, Justice Antonin Scalia went further. He wrote that "where the government accuses a citizen of waging war against it, our constitutional tradition has been to prosecute him ki federal court for treason or some other crime. Padilla got his trial far too late and after far too much abuse, but he did get it , as Scalia urged, as Padilla deserved and as the Constitution required. - D00NESBURY . r Bruce Tinsley MALLARD FILLMORE Garry Trudeau it ant "5Ay flB&tss&M. (youe farm . I . I. . A I r I t 0 |