Russia puts a flag on the ocean floor and claims it Does the USA own the moon?

Answer 1

No, international treaty prevents ownership of the moon or Antarctica by any one country.

A nation may establish a base on the moon or Antarctica; they may call that base theirs. They can do what they want at that base, even mine it. But the land can't be owned, it is international property; which means if they tried to mine it then the entire world would be due a royalty check.

I am not sure the Russian claim to the ocean floor is a valid one. The recognized limit for a nation is 10 miles from their coast. That should hold for the ocean floor as well. By that reasoning the oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico do not own the ocean they are over, nor the contents under that land. They own the oil though because they pulled it out of the ground.

If Russia wanted to go out to the floor of the ocean and set up a mine of some sort then can do it, but I don't think they can claim the territory as part of Russia unless it is within 10 miles of their shore.

However, the mine would be treated like an embassy. If an Iranian gun boat drove out to the Gulf of New Mexico and blew up an oil rig they would probably find themselves at war with the US (assuming it was a company based in the US or operating in the US). The oil platform can't claim the ocean, it can't claim the land underneath it on the ocean floor, but it can claim the oil pulled out and it can claim that the platform itself is owned by US citizens and therefore US territory.

We have been in Antarctica for a long time and have well established permanent bases. We own those bases, but if the US left Antarctica and abandoned those bases then the US would no longer own that property and it could be claimed under salvage laws by any other person or nation. The land itself is owned by the UN for the sake of the entire planet.

Space also can’t be claimed nor can the other objects in it. However, by the same reasoning if the US set up a Moon Base it would be considered US territory for as long as the base was maintained by the US. The Apollo Landers all have an American flag near them saying that the US was here. But, the temporary lunar base was abandoned. After Apollo 17 no one has been back to the moon. If China or Russia landed on the same sight as Apollo 11 they could set up a base there. They could even claim the old lunar lander as scrap under salvage laws. The US couldn’t do anything about it.

In practice no nation can own any territory that it doesn’t have ceded to it by a nation in a UN recognized treaty. That means when Iraq took over Kuwait they didn’t own the land, there was no UN recognized treaty saying they could own it. But, if a nation sets up a base then it can claim that base for the life of the base.

Answer 2

The Russians are claiming the sea floor in the Arctic Ocean. (Note: not all nations recognize the international status of Antarctica. There are several claims.) In this case, as with the Antarctic example, Russia is concerned with oil. There seems to be rather large potential reserves of oil under the arctic ocean floor. The problem, just like the other end of the world, is that conditions are seriously awful. Ice covering the area for many months of the year, frequent gale force winds, high seas, icebergs...
While it might be possible to get at the oil, technologically it is extremely dangerous and difficult, hence extremely expensive. It could easily cost more to extract the oil than the oil is worth. This is known as bad business. There is also an almost certain chance of environmental disaster if it were to be attempted. Of course Russians have never been at the forefront of environmental concern.

Answer 3

From a practical standpoint, the working theory has always been that you own whatever you can control. That's why nations have a twelve-mile limit: it's the maximum range of a shore-mounted cannon, or was back in 1900 or so.

The old convention, never very well enforced, was that you'd plant your flag on an island to show that you intended to try to control it. This didn't mean that anyone would necessarily take you seriously: you were _claiming_ it, but nobody had to respect that claim unless you had a division of troops to suggest that they do so.

God only knows what the Russians are thinking about these days, if anything.

Oh: the US never claimed the moon. Our plaque up there at Tranquility Base says, "We came in peace for all mankind." Signed by the President, Richard M. Nixon.

Answer 4

Well, seeing as how Russia is the successor state to the USSR, let's see some of the things Russia can claim:

1) The Soviet flag was the first on the moon, not the American. The Soviets were, after all, the first to land a probe on the moon (which, of course, was stamped with their flag).

2) The USSR was the first to land a probe on Mars and Venus. So I guess they own those planets, too.

3) Actually, if we come to think of it, Russia was the first language spoken in space. I think Russia should declare Russian the official language of outer space, don't you think?

4) Oh wait, the first person in SPACE was Russian. Seeing as how his shuttle was stamped with the Soviet flag, I guess Russia owns space, too? We're playing under the doctrine of finders keepers, right?

Answer 5

Russia is chest-thumping and has no legal claim to the North Pole. They're attempting to establish a legal claim by "proving" that the land underneath is part of their continental shelf, but it's a weak argument.

The USA never claimed any part of the moon and by international convention cannot claim any part of the moon.

Answer 6

The oceans and our moon can not be owned by any one country. They can place a flag saying they were there or something of that nature, but that by no means gives them ownership.

Answer 7

Russian President Putin is pounding his chest to look tough for his citizens. Things are very bad in Russia and frankly their barely hanging in there.

The whole flag thing is for show to impress the Russians.

Answer 8

The Russians have had plenty of flags placed under the the north pole in the past decades..... they are all still within the hulls of sunken Russian submarines.

Answer 9

Yes. It's a small matter of renaming ourselves U.S.U., United States of the Universe.

That, and adding the first moon to our 51 stars.

For our international friends, please note the humour and sarcasm. There's still the far-side.

Answer 10

No, The United States has never been to the moon. It was a hoax.