When, on April 30. the United States rejected the Law of the Sea Convention, it dealt a blow to its own best interest: the orderly development of rules to govern navigation and exploitation of the oceans.

During the last days of an eight-week session of the third United Nations conference on the Law of the Sea, the Third World majority had made a last-ditch effort to obtain U.S. approval of the treaty. The U.S. delegate, James Malone acknowledged that their concessions offered “modest improvements” but also that they failed to satisfy U.S. demands on the mining of highly valued manganese nodules. Whatever hope remained for a consensus on the draft treaty was shattered when the U.S. pressed for a forrnai roll call vote on the final day. Disappointment, frustration, and even shock was registered by many of the assembled delegates.

Each day two 20,000-ton freighters loaded with grain leave the United States for the Soviet Union. This flow of grain between two major adversaries is influenced by economic considerations such as the size of the Soviet grain deficit, the U.S. capacity to supply, and the Soviet ability to pay. Political considerations include the risk to both trading partners of such a heavy interdependence, whether as supplier or market.

Never before has a country dominated the world grain trade as the United States does today. Its 55 per cent share of world grain exports in 1981 easily overshadows Saudi Arabia's 24 per cent share of world oil exports in 1978. And while the amount of oil traded internationally has been falling since 1979, grain shipments are continuing to grow.

The question is asked whether Moral Majority is a threat or a challenge. The answer, I believe, is that it is both. The less intelligently we respond to the challenge, the greater is the threat.

The concern is about a cluster of organizations and movements representing an alliance between religion and the New Right in American politics. Moral Majority and its leader, Jerry Falwell, are simply the most visible part of the phenomenon. I am persuaded that the religious New Right represents a deep and long-term change in American religion, culture, and politics. Moral Majority and other organizations may not be around five years from now, but the change they represent will be with us for a long time.