The Foreign Service Journal, October 2012

16 OCTOBER 2012 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL into force in 1994, a year after Guyana became the 60th nation to sign. To date, 162 countries, including every NATOmember, except Turkey and the U.S., and the European Union have ratified it, and those signatories have pushed ahead to fully implement its provisions. For example, Russia has already asserted sovereignty over nearly half of the Arctic, and Canada intends to put forth a large claim of its own to the region. Such claims could encroach on America’s exclusive economic zone. Failure to finally ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty could affect the United States’ ability to lay and maintain undersea communications cables; impede rights of passage, navigation and safety along critical maritime transit routes, including through the South China Sea and the Strait of Hormuz; and threaten access to economically important minerals, including rare earth minerals. Conversely, all parties to the treaty instantly gain an internationally recognized extension of their seabed beyond the 200-mile exclusive EEZ. A broad, bipartisan coalition was formed earlier this year to mount a full-court press for Senate ratification of the treaty. Supporters of the American Sovereignty Campaign include every living president and Secretary of State, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and many current and former Army, Marine and Air Force generals and Navy and Coast Guard admirals. Despite the campaign’s efforts, however, prospects for ratification are uncertain at best. On July 16, Senator James Inhofe, R-Okla., released a letter in which he and 33 of his GOP colleagues vowed to oppose the treaty if the Obama administration submits it for a vote. Since 67 senators (two- thirds of the 100-member Senate) are required to ratify any treaty, consideration was again deferred. —Steven Alan Honley, Editor NPR’s Brit Bit T he United Kingdom’s ambassador to the United States, Sir Peter W. Westmacott, was the guest on the Aug. 25 episode of the National Public Radio quiz show, “Wait, Wait …Don’t Tell Me!” While the entire segment is entertaining, AFSAmembers may find the following exchange between Westmacott and the show’s host, Peter Sagal, particularly amusing: Sagal: Now, you have an extensive resumé in the British Foreign Service. You’ve been all over, right? Westmacott: Well, I’ve been to a lot of different countries, and I’ve been in this business for almost 40 years . Sagal: Right. I’m curious; I mean, does the Queen ever 50 YEARS AGO Hello? Mr. Miles Toomuch, the jazz musician? This is the State Department—Bureau of Images— Victor Veneer speaking. I’m calling, sir, in regard to the Attorney General’s plan for improving our image abroad by sending over our intellectual and artistic elite—oh, yes, you are, Mr. Toomuch! Well, we say so! Anyhow, we down here at Image just wanted to check you out on some difficult questions you might be asked on your trip—you know, by rioting students or something. For instance, what would you say about our resumption of atmospheric testing? Oh, you’d say that , would you? And how would you handle divisive questions on race relations? I see. And about our Berlin, NATO and Asian policies? Mmm, hmm. Well, Mr. Toomuch, instead of all that couldn’t you play something on your horn? I mean, isn’t music truly the best communicator? Heavens, no one is trying to suppress you, Mr. Toomuch, but it is sort of your image against our image of our image, isn’t it? And shouldn’t important decisions on image be left in the hands of the public relations experts who may have access to classified publicity that you don’t know about? Well, look, Mr. Toomuch: Before we reissue you your passport, why don’t I send you our sample image sales kit, including pamphlets, film strips and visual aids—all under the general title of “Operation Good Guy.”We’d like you to have the right slant before you went abroad, sir. After all, image is everybody’s job. –REPRINTED BY SPECIAL PERMISSION OF JULES FEIFFER AND THE HALL SYNDICATE; FSJ , OCTOBER 1962.