Across the globe, this is the “year of elections,” with high-stakes contests in India, the European Union, Mexico, South Africa, the U.S. and many other places. But one election that will have a major effect on 70% of the world’s surface has gone almost unnoticed: the recent vote for secretary-general of International Seabed Authority, with 169 member states.

An organ of the United Nations, the ISA was created by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982. Headquartered in Jamaica, it has authority over all deep seabed mining concessions worldwide, with a mandate to protect the riches of the international seabed (which accounts for more than half of the total ocean floor). Of particular note, the ISA will decide whether to permit mining in areas containing manganese, cobalt, copper and nickel.

I have on my desk a small nodule containing those elements, given to me by a colleague involved in the quest to open up this potentially important source of key materials. As a young naval officer in the early 1980s, I did my doctoral studies on the technology associated with deep seabed mining, which at the time I thought would begin very soon.

I was wrong — or, if I want to go easier on myself, just premature. Deep seabed mining has been stalled for a variety of environmental and economic reasons, as well as the requirement to share relevant technology with the global community. Now, however, the technology to surface the nodules is improving, while land-based sources are drying up and commodity prices are rising.

So the election of the new ISA secretary-general took on an outsize importance. The winner, Brazilian oceanographer Leticia Carvalho, has a strong mandate: The vote was 79 to 34. Carvalho, currently an official for the UN environmental program in Nairobi, will be the first Brazilian, the first scientist and the first woman to lead the organization.

Her predecessor, Michael Lodge, has pushed aggressively for a set of regulations for deep seabed mining, which the industry supports. Carvalho, who takes office on Jan. 1, has said that the ISA is unlikely to meet its internal deadline of July 2025 to formalize those rules.

That’s unfortunate. Particularly as electric vehicles become more popular and the need for batteries grows, the strip mining of such nodules from the deep seabed will accelerate. The ISA has issued more than 30 contracts to both private and state-run companies to look for nodules across 500,000 square miles of international seabed.

Carvalho’s election comes at a complicated moment. New and unexpected findings indicate that the nodules may produce oxygen. This means that more data collection and environmental analysis will be necessary. A minority of ISA member states (the U.S. is not one) has already called for a pause on mining, and more may join in requesting a moratorium.

The “hot zone” for mining is in the center of the Pacific, near tiny island nations of Kiribati, Naura, and Tonga. They are working with a Canadian firm, The Metals Company (TMC), to begin mining — even if regulations are not in place. This will not sit well with many of the nation-states of the ISA, some of whom see the exploitation of the seabed as 21st century colonization. A guiding principle of the Law of the Sea treaty is that the international seabed is the “common heritage of all mankind.”

But some of the delegations — including China and Japan, whose combined GDP is nearly a quarter of the global economy — are pushing forward. The U.S., while not a member of the ISA, has generally favored mining in order to support manufacturing. Several European, Australian and Canadian companies are interested in moving forward on mining for both economic and geostrategic reasons.

The rise of AI, which is used to prospect and explore the deep seabed, has allowed for more efficient mining, as have advances in robotics and nanotechnology. These technologies will only add to the pressure to mine the deep seabed.

The geopolitical implications of this are fraught. As demand for critical materials increases, the drive to create state-sponsored or state-supported entities to assure supplies will become irresistible. There will also be competition among major industrial powers to curry favor with the nations with large exclusive economic zones, constituting 200 nautical miles near large nodule fields. Already there are major state-sponsored initiatives to work with Pacific Island nations to develop their seabed.

For the U.S., the major strategic priority should be to ratify the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Ironically, it was objections over the deep seabed mining regime that caused the U.S. to oppose the treaty in the 1980s. Despite a couple of close calls over the decades, it has never been approved by the U.S. Senate. Yet it enjoys overwhelming support from U.S. naval strategists — including every admiral I know — as well as U.S. industry.

If the U.S. wants a voice in the deliberations over the deep seabed — and it should — then it needs to ratify the treaty, which will require bipartisan support, and try to influence the process from the inside. The ISA’s recent election should serve as a warning: The opportunity to make an impact on policy over the world’s oceans is drifting away (pun intended) from the U.S.

James Stavridis is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a retired U.S. Navy admiral, former supreme allied commander of NATO, and dean emeritus of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

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Ralph Malmberg, the former longtime owner of the Marine General Store in Marine on St. Croix, never set out to be famous.

But one of Malmberg’s frequent customers was radio broadcaster Garrison Keillor, who lived in Marine on St. Croix from 1977 to 1980. Malmberg was often mentioned in Keillor’s “News from Lake Wobegon” monologues on his weekly radio show, “A Prairie Home Companion.”

Ralph Malmberg outside the Marine General Store in Marine on St. Croix. Malmberg died Aug. 6, 2024, of complications related to Alzheimer’s disease at Croixdale in Bayport. He was 90. (Courtesy of Jennifer Malmberg Henry)

Malmberg died Aug. 6 of complications related to Alzheimer’s disease at Croixdale in Bayport. He was 90.

“The name ‘Ralph’s Pretty Good Grocery’ I stole from my landlady, Judy Wilcox, who was a good friend of Ralph and Marian Malmberg,” Keillor said Monday. “She also gave me the motto ‘If you can’t find it at Ralph’s, you can probably get along without it.’ That was her joke. Neither one was mine. I simply used them for 50 years.”

Keillor said he last mentioned “Ralph’s Pretty Good Grocery” and the slogan during a show on Friday night in Concord, N.H. “And it got the same reliable laugh. Not a guffaw, but a healthy laugh of recognition. I deserve no credit for it; Judy Wilcox gets that.”

Malmberg, who owned the store from 1961 to 1982, was an “amazing and interesting character for being, you know, a quiet Swede,” Keillor said. “That store was the heart of Marine on St. Croix.”

Malmberg, of Marine on St. Croix, never knew when the store would get a cameo on the radio show. Keillor once told a story about the store’s new “foot vibrator.”

“I had all my compressors in the basement, and it got very hot there in the summertime, so I installed a big circulating exhaust fan, and I hung it on the rafters near the produce counter,” Malmberg told a Swedish TV program in 2011. “When I ran that fan, it vibrated the floor quite a bit. Garrison walked in, and he was pacing back and forth and standing in front of that produce counter. I didn’t really think about it. The next day, he remarked on the air about the new foot vibrator that Ralph had installed, and that the people should come there after working hard and get their feet massaged.”

‘Wanted to work for himself’

An undated photo of the Marine General Store when it was owned by Ralph Malmberg. It was built in 1870 as a company store for a lumber company. (Courtesy of Marine General Store)

The white clapboard store, built in 1870 as a company store for a lumber company, is a landmark in northern Washington County, known as much for its original wood floor and counter as for its in-house deli and bakery.

Malmberg discovered that the store – then owned by the Strand family – was for sale during a sales call to the store in 1961, said Andrew Malmberg, Malmberg’s son.

Ralph Malmberg was selling trading stamps for Business Incentives at the time, “but he was looking for a business to buy because he wanted to work for himself,” Malmberg said. “He wanted to get out of Minneapolis. He wanted to try living in a small town, and the store came up and that’s kind of all she wrote.”

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Malmberg grew up in Minneapolis and graduated from North High School. He studied mortuary science at the University of Minnesota, but later graduated with an associate degree in business from the U, said Jennifer Malmberg Henry, Malmberg’s daughter.

He met Marian Wicker, who was studying education at the U, through mutual friends from North Minneapolis, Jennifer Henry said. The couple married in 1959 at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Minneapolis. They had three children.

Malmberg, who became the town’s butcher after he purchased the store, was especially proud of the store’s meat department. When he bought the store, there was still a chicken coop in the back – where the Nita Mae’s Scoop ice cream shop is now located, Jennifer Henry said.

Other endeavors

Malmberg expanded into other businesses as well. An avid cross-country skier, he opened a ski shop above the Marine General Store, where he sold skis and his own brand of Malmberg 3-pin bindings and a wax scraper he had invented, Andrew Malmberg said.

Ralph Malmberg inside the Marine General Store, which he formerly owned, in Marine on St. Croix in 2009. Malmberg died Aug. 6 at the age of 90. (Courtesy of Andy Kramer)

“He loved skiing,” he said. “He liked to compete. He was in a lot of ski races, and he liked to be outside.”

Malmberg was the founder of the Marine O’Brien Ski Race, a race from the Marine Elementary School to William O’Brien State Park. The race celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022. The race, a fundraiser for the St. Croix Valley Ski Club youth-skiing program, includes 12.5 km and 25 km classic and skate races and a 6 km wood ski race.

Ralph and Marian Malmberg also ran an airline crew specialty store and founded the Marine Messenger, the predecessor of the Country Messenger. The free weekly newspaper, which started as a grocery store broadsheet, was published in the basement of the store.

“It had sale information, special information, they called it ‘gossip,’” Jennifer Henry said. “They expanded into local events, anniversaries, graduations, church events, news about the fire department, you name it. She wrote it by hand and then printed it out or used a typewriter and cut it out. She would literally use glue sticks to put it all together. She would stay up until 3 o’clock in the morning doing it.”

The Malmbergs “weren’t afraid to start new things,” said Gwen Roden, the store’s longtime manager. “He had an Episcopal church in the office area upstairs for a time as well. When the church left, he rented skis and the first VHS videos.”

When Ralph Malmberg would get an idea, “he would just march forward with it,” Henry said. “Because his personality was so palatable to everyone, he could just get people to help him make things happen. He could really get people to rally. He was quiet, but very friendly.”

Employed local youth

The Marine General Store was the first employer for many of the youth in Marine, Roden said. “He was fair, and he was funny,” she said. “He had a great sense of humor. He employed every kid who grew up in Marine and taught us how to work.”

“For scores of young people, it was where they learned good manners, how to deal with customers, reliability, cleanliness, the list goes on,” Keillor said. “It was like Junior Achievement. It was a forum for young entrepreneurs, and they went on to other things.”

Henry said her father had high expectations of his employees. “They learned so much from him,” she said. “He let them do a lot. He was willing to give them a lot of responsibility and trusted them.”

In 1982, Malmberg sold the store to Dan and Sue Pruden, who had worked in the grocery business in Forest Lake.

Andy and Karen Kramer, who owned the store from 2005 to 2015, said Malmberg loved sharing stories about his time at the store. “He said Garrison came in one day and was looking around and said, ‘Ralph, I don’t suppose you have any capers, do you?’ And Ralph looks at him and says, ‘What’s a caper?’” Andy Kramer said.

“When Ralph was telling us that story, I told him, ‘Well we have capers in the store now!’ and I showed him where they were,” she said. “He chuckled and thought that was kind of amazing.”

Lake Wobegon character

In the 2011 interview with the Swedish TV station, Malmberg said he could often picture himself in Keillor’s on-air stories.

“I think when he’s talking about the Lake Wobegon story and the character he’s talking about, I think people kind of fit themselves into that and dream along,” he said. “I know I do when I listen to him.”

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Malmberg loved Keillor and listened to the show religiously, Andy Malmberg said. As for being a featured part of the show, “he kind of ate it up, but he was a real humble guy,” he said. “He didn’t make a big deal of it. Mr. Keillor would come in and he would talk to him. He was just a regular friend of his.”

Malmberg was preceded death by his wife, Marian, and daughter Elizabeth. In addition to his son and daughter, he is survived by two grandchildren and a great-grandson.

Malmberg’s funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Ascension Episcopal Church in Stillwater, with visitation one hour prior.

Bradshaw Funeral Home in Stillwater is handling arrangements.

Paige Bueckers is already thinking about her future while she’s living in the present.

The UConn star plans on entering the WNBA draft after her season ends with what she hopes is the school’s 12th national championship. She would still have at least one more year of eligibility because of her injuries and the COVID-19 year granted to athletes when she was a freshman, but this will be her final college season.

Bueckers has already signed up to be part of Unrivaled — the new 3-on-3 league started by former Huskies greats Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart. The league will begin play this upcoming winter and she will play in it in 2026.

“It’s super cool. Obviously you want to plan for the future, but your feet are living in the present,” Bueckers told The Associated Press in an interview. “To be part of that which is something that’s so much bigger than myself.”

Bueckers will have an NIL deal with the league this year and will receive equity in it.

“I definitely think the return on investment will be huge. I think this league is gonna do great things,” she said. “Unrivaled is going to be a huge thing with people watching during the offseason of the WNBA.”

Stewart was happy that Bueckers was signed up for the fledgling league.

“Paige being a part of Unrivaled shows the longevity and future this league has,” she said. “Her being supportive of us in the first year and then playing in the second, is something that’s really exciting. We just are making sure that each year we have top caliber talent coming in.”

It’s been a busy summer for Bueckers as she’s spending a little bit of time at home in Minnesota before going back to school. From traveling the country to cheer on her former UConn teammates at WNBA games to watching her favorite Olympic events from her couch, the Huskies’ star is taking in her final free time before her last year in college.

She hopes this is her best one as Bueckers has had an injury-filled college career after winning AP Player of the Year as a freshman.

After being hurt for really the previous two seasons, Bueckers was able to put together a strong year in helping the Huskies reach the Final Four in April before they fell just short to Caitlin Clark and Iowa.

She had to carry the team with many of her teammates sidelined with injuries. Bueckers hopes that this season the Huskies will all be able to stay healthy and contend for a title.

“We’re all hungry and it’s time to get back,” she said.

Bueckers has partnered with Meta AI and used it to learn more about the Olympics and the sports she was watching that included archery and badminton. She did a cute video with her brother Drew on Instagram learning how to become an archer.

“I’m definitely not at the level of the athletes competing in the Olympics, but getting to know a little bit more about the sports is awesome,” she said.

Meta AI has tapped into college stars such as Bueckers and JuJu Watkins as a new initiative dubbed “Super Fan” was launched.

“In a few clicks and a couple questions you can learn so much more about the sport,” she said.

Bueckers laughed when asked if she had used Meta AI to find out about herself.

“Not yet,” she said. “But I will.”

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 13, the 226th day of 2024. There are 140 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Aug. 13, 1961, on what would become known as Barbed Wire Sunday, East Germany sealed the border between Berlin’s eastern and western sectors before building a wall that would divide the city for the next 28 years.

Also on this date:

In 1521, Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortez captured Tenochtitlan (teh-natch-teet-LAHN’), present-day Mexico City, from the Aztecs.

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In 1792, French revolutionaries arrested and imprisoned King Louis XVI; he would be executed by guillotine the following January.

In 1889, William Gray of Hartford, Connecticut, received a patent for the first coin-operated telephone.

In 1918, Opha May Johnson became the first woman to join the U.S. Marine Corps.

In 1952, Big Mama Thornton first recorded the song “Hound Dog,” four years before Elvis Presley’s famous version was released.

In 1969, New York City held a ticket-tape parade for Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins.

In 1995, Baseball Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle died at a Dallas hospital of rapidly spreading liver cancer at age 63.

In 2011, seven people were killed when a stage collapsed at the Indiana State Fair during a powerful storm just before a concert was to begin.

In 2020, in an interview on Fox Business Network, President Donald Trump acknowledged that he was starving the U.S. Postal Service of money in order to make it harder to process an expected surge of mail-in ballots.

Today’s Birthdays:

Former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders is 91.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is 78.
Opera singer Kathleen Battle is 76.
High wire aerialist Philippe Petit is 75.
Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke is 75.
Golf Hall of Famer Betsy King is 69.
Movie director Paul Greengrass is 69.
Actor Danny Bonaduce is 65.
TV weatherman Sam Champion is 63.
Actor Dawnn Lewis is 63.
Actor John Slattery is 62.
Actor Debi Mazar is 60.
Figure skater Midori Ito is 55.
Country singer Andy Griggs is 51.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is 50.
Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders is 42.
Actor Sebastian Stan is 42.
Actor Lennon Stella is 25.