-Caveat Lector- >From http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/10/16/183311.shtml
Reprinted from NewsMax.com U.S. Hands Oil-Rich Island to Russia Wes Vernon, NewsMax.com Thursday, Oct. 17, 2002 WASHINGTON – Billions in oil rights are at stake. But the State Department is handing the oil-rich Sakhalin Island to Russia. Single-handedly, the Bush administration is breaking a peace treaty signed at the end of World War II by 47 countries. This may well be another step in the president’s effort to forge closer ties with post-Soviet Russia so that if the U.S. goes to war with Iraq and some Middle East oil spigots to this country are cut off as a result, the Russians will be able to fill the void. However, as NewsMax.com reported Aug. 10, the Russian government has put under a 70- year seal all of its archives documenting KGB and Communist Party support for international terrorist organizations that now threaten American lives. As espionage expert J. Michael Waller of the Institute for World Politics has explained, "The Soviets created the terror networks that ultimately became the Islamic terrorist networks that we’re fighting today.” Moreover, beyond the risky assumption that giving Russia undisputed control of more oil will help the U.S. in the event of war with Iraq, the move raises questions of U.S. diplomatic credibility that could also backfire at the very time President Bush is seeking more allies in the war against terrorism in general and against Iraq in particular. But Japan Can't Sell Us Any Oil In making this move to cede Sakhalin Island without the consent of the 46 other countries that signed the treaty with the defeated Japanese, the State Department is unilaterally legitimizing Soviet occupation of the former Japanese territory. The Soviets entered the war against Japan in the final days of World War II, even though it was clear that victory was at hand, thanks in large measure to America’s new status at the time as the world’s sole nuclear power. Last-minute Soviet involvement in the Pacific phase of the Second World War resulted from a series of secret agreements at disastrous "Big Three” conferences near the end of the war. These meetings of the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union ended up as a one-way street in the USSR’s favor. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, egged on by Soviet agents Alger Hiss and Harry Hopkins, who were at his side, gave Joseph Stalin’s genocidal regime virtually everything it demanded. When the Stalin’s Red Army did declare war on Japan in the waning days of the war, the Soviets grabbed everything in sight, gained a further foothold in Asia, and contributed virtually nothing to victory there. Sakhalin Island, which was part of Japan during World War II, was invaded by the Soviets in the war’s final days. Not only was the treaty signed by 47 victors in World War II, the U.S. Senate, in giving its consent in 1952, specifically stipulated that the treaty "does not confer any right, title, or benefit [to Sakhalin Island] on the Soviet Union.” The Soviets, having bared their fangs and started the Cold War, continued to occupy the island anyway. The Soviet Union and the successor Russian government have refused to sign a peace treaty with Japan and have continued to occupy the territory. According to the organization State Department Watch, the department "is acting as if the Russians are sovereign instead of recognizing the rights of 47 World War II allied countries which collectively received it from Japan in the 1951 treaty.” Follow the Money The stakes are high: Billions of dollars of resources have been identified within the 200-mile exclusive economic zone that extends into the ocean from Sakhalin Island. Major oil deals involving these resources have been advanced to such giants as Shell, ExxonMobil Corp. and British Petroleum. Furthermore, according to Carl Olson of State Department Watch (SDW), no royalties have been paid to any of the 47 treaty signatories. As the New York Times reported Aug. 6, Sakhalin Island "in the Russian Far East” is "the eastern frontier of the expansion of the Russian oil industry,” and is "Russia’s first open door for foreign oil developers.” "All told,” said the Times, "foreign concerns are expected to invest about $13 billion over the next four years to build pipelines, a giant gas liquefying plant, storage plants and even roads and airports to ship oil and gas to world markets, particularly in Asia.” Not so fast, says SDW's Olson. "We are urging the Bush administration, Congress and the other 46 signatory countries to stand up for their rights and international law to protect the public’s interest in southern Sakhalin Island and the human rights of the inhabitants,” he said. "Appeals have been sent to the Bush administration departments, committees of the Senate and House and the ambassadors of the 46 countries in Washington.” The administration has not cited any legal authority for its actions. It's OK to Shoot Down Civilian Airliners SDW has researched a little-known diplomatic leftover from the Cold War. For decades, he writes, the State Department always marked the maps of Sakhalin Island with a dividing line at 50 degrees north, noting that the Soviet Union occupied it but was "not sovereign” (i.e., had no legitimate claim). When the Soviets shot down the Korean jetliner KAL007 over southern Sakhalin Island in September 1983, the State Department removed the dividing line and notation, lending legitimacy to the Soviet excuse of shooting down a civilian airplane in its "sovereign” airspace. The signatories to the treaty include friends and foes of the United States. In addition to the U.S., they include Argentina, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Syria, Turkey, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Venezuela and Vietnam. Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics: Bush Administration Russia Editor's note: Find out the complete details of China’s and Russia’s Military Buildup in "Bitter Legacy: NewsMax Reveals the Untold Story of the Clinton-Gore Years" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A<>E<>R + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; I don't believe everything I read or send (but that doesn't stop me from considering it; obviously SOMEBODY thinks it's important) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. 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