I believe the concern of the UN, and others, is that rich nations will monopolize the moon and its resources.

Without the rich nations, NOBODY will get at the moon and its resources. For that matter, without the wealth and technological skills of the West, damn few Third World nations would have any kind of industry at all in modern times, and the leaders of the Middle East would not be driving limos around.

Sure, there's going to be plenty of folks who will harp about the "heritage of all mankind" once someone else has busted their ass to actually make some money off the Moon. Someone is always willing to share someone else's wealth.

In point of fact, the wealthy nations developing the low-cost technology and capacity for extraterrestrial development is what will make it possible for others to have access to these resources. This has been true for many other fields of development and industry.

That Ugandan who looks up and sees the moon bristling with industry has a right to be cocerned--if not for the aesthetic, and historic value of the moon--then for the future of his country's ability to utilize the lunar surface.

I doubt this is the first thing that your typical Ugandan worries about.

Again, without America and the other Western nations, what are the odds of Uganda utilizing the lunar surface at all? And I find it hard to imagine an industrial complex visible to the naked eye from Earth. I seriously doubt even massive industry would be visible even from lunar orbit, except maybe for small lights. If you are one of those people who complains about visual pollution by ocean oil derricks that can only be seen with a telescope, I can't help you there.

The moon should remain forever neutral territory, much like the open ocean, available for all who can now, or will in the future venture there. We've too long lived by an imperialist mentality, which says "We have the might (either military, political, monetary, or all of the above) so we will do what we damn well please--wherever we please.

The ocean was available to anyone who could assemble any kind of boat, from the great trading nations and their sailing ships, down to the Polynesians and their canoes. It's not the same thing with space colonization. Having just gotten back from Hawaii, it's a damn good thing there wasn't anyone around to tell the Polynesians they couldn't colonize and develop the uninhabited islands they found in their travels. And believe me, they made some serious environmental changes.

That all being said, it is true that some legal mechanism needs to be set up to formalize the process of claiming and utilizing lunar resources. Obviously, a corporation or anyone else cannot be permitted to land on the Moon and "claim" the whole damn world simply because they're standing on one piece of it. What is needed is some sort of mining or "homesteading" law that recognize ownership of resources based on reasonable and objective demonstration of its development. The key is to recognize property rights to a resource in a legal manner.