No Cash No Claim
Russia-Niger military cooperation, Lloyd Austin says US has "no more money" for Ukraine; the USA has not ratified UNCLOS, but claims one million square kilometres of continental shelf.
UPDATE: Russia and Niger, under military rule since a coup last year, have agreed to develop military cooperation, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday. According to Russian news agencies, Russian Deputy Defense Ministers Yunus-Bek Yevkurov and Alexander Fomin met Niger's junta-appointed Defense Minister Salifu Modi on Tuesday.
“I urge this group to dig deep to provide Ukraine with more lifesaving ground-based air defense systems and interceptors,” said Lloyd Austin in opening remarks broadcast from his home while recuperating after prostate cancer surgery. The opening statement by video was the first public appearance from Austin, 70, who appeared slightly gaunt. Austin was hospitalised for two weeks after complications from the surgery.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) reflects a series of compromises between the ocean’s various stakeholders and seeks to preserve maritime stability by ensuring tensions do not build to the point of conflict. As it opened for signature in 1982, states began organising their maritime claims and activities around its four key elements (see Box 1), which transformed and stabilised the maritime domain.
By invoking UNCLOS, the State Department has outlined new areas under the sea where the continental shelf, a seabed area surrounding large landmasses with relatively shallow waters, extends further than previously recognised. However, the United States is not a party to UNCLOS and therefore has no legal rights to territorial expansion.
Russia-Niger military cooperation
By Maxim Rodionov, Ron Popeski, Jonathan Oatis
Russia and Niger, under military rule since a coup last year, have agreed to develop military cooperation, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday. According to Russian news agencies, Russian Deputy Defense Ministers Yunus-Bek Yevkurov and Alexander Fomin met Niger's junta-appointed Defense Minister Salifu Modi on Tuesday.
"The parties noted the importance of developing Russian-Niger relations in the defense sector and agreed to intensify joint actions to stabilize the situation in the region," - the ministry said, adding that it aims to continue dialogue on "increasing the combat readiness" of Niger's military.
The ministry has not provided details about its plans.
Niger's military council, led by General Abdourahamane Tiani, took power after ousting President Mohamed Bazoum in July 2023.
Niger's junta has kicked out French troops and severed security pacts with the European Union, leaving Western allies concerned that the country could become a new foothold for Russia in the region.
Niger's junta-appointed Prime Minister Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine has also arrived in Moscow. During the visit, Zeine intends to discuss widening a partnership with Russia in the areas of defense, agriculture and energy.
Niger's uranium and oil reserves and its pivotal role in fighting Islamist militants in the Sahel region give it economic and strategic importance for the United States, Europe, China and Russia.
Read more here.
Pentagon Penniless
Hosts 50 Allies to Raise Funds for Kyiv
By Tara Copp and Lolita C. Baldor (amended)
While waiting for Congress to pass a budget and potentially approve more money for Ukraine’s fight, the U.S. will be looking to allies to keep bridging the gap.
“I urge this group to dig deep to provide Ukraine with more lifesaving ground-based air defense systems and interceptors,” said Lloyd Austin in opening remarks broadcast from his home while recuperating after prostate cancer surgery. The opening statement by video was the first public appearance from Austin, 70, who appeared slightly gaunt. Austin was hospitalized for two weeks after complications from the surgery.
On Tuesday in Brussels, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced a new $1.2 billion joint contract to buy more than 222,000 rounds of 155 mm ammunition. The rounds are some of the most heavily used munitions in this conflict, and the contract will be used to backfill allies that have pushed their own reserves to Kyiv.
“Even though we aren’t able to provide our security assistance right now, our partners are continuing to do that,” deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters Monday.
While the conflict between Israel and Hamas has dominated headlines since October, Russia's bloody onslaught of Ukraine has continued.
Russia on Tuesday launched a barrage of more than 40 ballistic, cruise, anti-aircraft and guided missiles into Ukraine’s two biggest cities, damaging apartment buildings and killing at least five people. The assault came a day after Moscow shunned any deal backed by Kyiv and its Western allies to end the almost two-year war.
Ukraine's air defenses were able to intercept at least 21 of the missiles, however the attacks injured at least 20 people in four districts of Kyiv, the capital.
Additional air defense systems and munitions for them remain a top need of Ukraine, Singh said.
The Pentagon announced its last security assistance for Ukraine on Dec. 27, a $250 million package that included 155 mm rounds, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and other high-demand items drawn from existing U.S. stockpiles.
The U.S. has not been able to provide additional munitions since then because the money for replenishing those stockpiles has run out and Congress has yet to approve more funds.
More than $110 billion in aid for both Ukraine and Israel is stalled over disagreements between Congress and the White House over other policy priorities, including additional security for the U.S.-Mexico border.
The U.S. has provided Ukraine more than $44.2 billion in security assistance since Russia invaded in February 2022. About $23.6 billion of that was pulled from existing military stockpiles and almost $19 billion was sent in the form of longer-term military contracts, for items that will take months to procure. So even though funds have run out, some previously purchased weapons will continue to flow in. An additional $1.7 billion has been provided by the U.S. State Department in the form of foreign military financing.
The U.S. and approximately 30 international partners are also continuing to train Ukrainian forces, and to date have trained a total of 118,000 Ukrainians at locations around the world, said Col. Marty O’Donnell, spokesman for U.S. Army Europe and Africa.
The United States has trained approximately 18,000 of those fighters, including approximately 16,300 soldiers in Germany. About 1,500 additional fighters are currently going through training.
Read more here.
UNCLOS NOT RATIFIED BY USA
US Maritime arguments over China and UNCLOS
By Peter Alan Dutton (amended)
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) reflects a series of compromises between the ocean’s various stakeholders and seeks to preserve maritime stability by ensuring tensions do not build to the point of conflict. As it opened for signature in 1982, states began organising their maritime claims and activities around its four key elements (see Box 1), which transformed and stabilised the maritime domain.
The United States supports UNCLOS but frustratingly remains outside it. Push back inside the convention’s institutions therefore must come from the UK, Australia, Japan, India, France, and others with substantial maritime interests. Otherwise, rather than being a century of maritime tranquillity, the years ahead will see a detrimental reversion to maritime instability.
If the UNCLOS system is to be preserved, states with important maritime interests, including the United Kingdom (UK), must reinforce its provisions with clear policy statements, support affected stakeholders actively, and employ stiffer action where required. Without such efforts, the future order of the oceans is in doubt.
The key elements of UNCLOS
Beginning in the early 20th century, advancements in military technologies, notably the capacity to drill offshore for oil and gas, and expanded industrial fishing, put pressure on states to establish international laws to regulate activities at sea. It was not until after the Second World War, however, that states were able to address these pressing issues. In 1982, negotiators completed a comprehensive treaty to provide order, stability, and sustainable productivity in the world’s oceans. To achieve these aims, UNCLOS advances four interwoven areas of international law.
First, it defines maritime zones and establishes the bases for delimiting them. It is the first international treaty, for instance, to establish a uniform maximum breadth of the territorial sea at 12 nautical miles and creates the 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) within which coastal states possess sovereign rights to the resources inside it. It provides a system to delimit maritime zones between neighbours based on coastal geography, international law, and equitable results. These important advancements brought rapid and substantial uniformity to maritime claims around the world and stability to what had previously been a global patchwork.
Second, UNCLOS defines the rights and duties which apply within its several maritime zones. It balances the security and economic interests of coastal states against the freedoms of maritime states to navigate and operate freely on the seas. In doing so, it provides for various passage regimes, including the right of innocent passage in the territorial sea, which requires ships to pass in an un-threatening manner, and transit passage, which grants ships and aircraft the right to pass through narrow coastal straits. In the rest of the oceans, it preserves the right of high seas freedoms, excepting only a coastal state’s right to the resources and related jurisdiction in its EEZ and continental shelf.
Third, UNCLOS establishes rules, standards, and norms to protect the maritime environment. It views the resources in and under the high seas as the ‘common heritage of mankind’. It gives coastal states jurisdiction to protect and preserve the marine environment and requires them to undertake measures to avoid over-exploitation of living resources. Further, it requires cooperation between neighbouring states to conserve living resources and to prevent marine pollution and other environmental damage. It requires environmental assessment prior to undertaking action which may cause substantial pollution.
Fourth, and finally, UNCLOS establishes a mandatory system to resolve disputes and advance maritime stability. It obliges states to settle disputes by peaceful means, allows parties to choose their own dispute resolution methods, and establishes processes among which states can choose to adjudicate disputes. It even lets states opt out of the most contentious types of disputes, such as those involving sovereignty over territory, military activities, and law enforcement.
Box 1: Four key elements of UNCLOS
Defining maritime zones
Establishing rules for delimiting maritime boundaries between states
Establishing rules for delimiting national and international zones
Balancing coastal state rights and international freedoms
Balancing coastal state security and offshore military activities
Protecting the marine environment
Shielding the marine environment as the common heritage of humankind
Protecting presumptions of environmental protection and sustainable use
Stabilising through the dispute resolution process
A mandatory process where the application of the rules is questioned
Read more here.
The U.S. claims one million square kilometres
The United States, however, has made the claims under UNCLOS, which it has not ratified.
In a historic move, the United States has officially expanded its geographical territory by one million square kilometres — an area nearly 60 percent the size of Alaska. The catalyst for this territory expansion lies in the redefinition of the U.S. continental shelf boundaries.
By invoking UNCLOS, the State Department has outlined new areas under the sea where the continental shelf, a seabed area surrounding large landmasses with relatively shallow waters, extends further than previously recognised. However, the United States is not a party to UNCLOS and therefore has no legal rights to territorial expansion.
This monumental addition is spread across seven distinct ocean regions, with over half of the new territory located in the Arctic.
U.S. territory expansion and marine resources
The areas encompassed in this claim include the Arctic, the east coast Atlantic, the Bering Sea, the west coast Pacific, the Mariana Islands, and two regions in the Gulf of Mexico.
The addition of this vast territory, equivalent in size to double the state of California, significantly strengthens the nation’s control over marine resources.
“America is larger than it was yesterday,” said Mead Treadwell, a former Alaska lieutenant governor and former chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission.
“It’s not quite the Louisiana Purchase. It’s not quite the purchase of Alaska, but the new area of land and subsurface resources under the land controlled by the United States is two Californias larger.”
State Department project director Brian Van Pay said it took multi-agency fieldwork spanning 20 years for scientists to gather data about the shape of the seafloor and measuring sediment layers.
“Forty missions at sea, going to areas that we’ve never explored before, finding entire seamounts we didn’t even know existed,” said Van Pay.
“And, if you add up all the time that our scientists spent at sea, it’s over three years of data collection.”
Strong scientific foundation
This claim, although unratified by the U.S. Senate, adheres to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Despite the lack of formal ratification, the U.S. government proceeded to announce its continental shelf limits.
Treadwell asserted confidence in the scientific foundation of this unilateral move.
“If somebody came back and said, ‘Your science is bad,’ I think the United States would listen. But I don’t think science is bad. I think we’ve had very good science,” said Treadwell.
The State Department’s Arctic claim notably aligns with a 1990 maritime boundary agreement with Russia, ensuring no encroachment on Russian territory.
“None of the fixed points delineating the outer limits of the continental shelf of the United States are located west of the agreed boundary with the Russian Federation,” said the State Department.
However, potential overlap with Canada’s claims was acknowledged by Van Pay, indicating future diplomatic negotiations.
Legal framework for U.S. territory expansion
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) serves as the cornerstone for the legal definition and governance of the ECS.
Under this framework, coastal states can claim an ECS up to 350 nautical miles from their baseline or 100 nautical miles from the 2,500-meter isobath, which is a line connecting depths of 2,500 meters.
Key Provisions
Article 76 of UNCLOS: This article provides the legal basis for the extension of the continental shelf beyond the 200 nautical miles. It outlines specific criteria and methods for determining the outer limits of the continental shelf.
Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS): Established under UNCLOS, this body evaluates the submissions made by coastal states regarding the outer limits of their continental shelf.
Process of claiming ECS
Claiming an ECS is a meticulous and scientific process. Coastal states must submit detailed geological and hydrographic data supporting their claim to the CLCS.
Data Collection: States conduct extensive seabed surveys to collect geophysical and hydrographic data.
Preparation of Submission: The collected data is then used to prepare a submission that delineates the outer limits of the continental shelf.
Evaluation by CLCS: The CLCS reviews the submission and makes recommendations. These are not binding but carry significant legal weight.
Significance of the ECS
Resource Management: The ECS is rich in resources like oil, gas, and minerals. Sovereign rights over these resources are vital for economic development.
Environmental Protection: Jurisdiction over the ECS enables states to enforce environmental regulations, safeguarding marine ecosystems.
Geopolitical Relevance: The ECS can have strategic importance, affecting maritime boundaries and regional stability.
Challenges and controversies
Overlapping Claims: In regions where the continental shelves of neighbouring countries overlap, there is potential for disputes.
Technical and Financial Constraints: The process of delineating the ECS is resource-intensive, posing challenges for smaller or less developed countries.
Environmental Concerns: Exploitation of resources in the ECS must balance economic interests with environmental protection.
In summary, the Extended Continental Shelf is a complex yet crucial aspect of maritime law and geopolitics. It presents opportunities and challenges for coastal states.
As nations navigate these waters, it is imperative that they adhere to the principles of international law, promote cooperation, and balance economic aspirations with environmental stewardship.
The stewardship of the ECS is not just a matter of national interest but a global responsibility, requiring concerted efforts to maintain the delicate balance between resource utilisation and ocean conservation.
Read more here.