I love the idea of world peace–nations all getting along with each other. All of the nations embracing freedom for their people. I love the idea. However, history seems to indicate that a peaceful world consisting of free people is not likely to happen. Because of that, a world where force can be met by counter-force seems to be the best alternative. Nations need to be able to protect themselves. That should be obvious to most people. Evidently it is not obvious to some of our current leaders.
On Monday, The U.K. Daily Mail reported that the US will no longer conduct anti-satellite missile tests. The theory is that the self-imposed ban will become part of a goal to make it an ‘international norm for responsible behavior in space,’ If we put our space weapons down, other countries will put their space weapons down. We have a current example of how well agreements like that work–in 1994 Ukraine signed a memorandum that stated that if it gave up its nuclear weapons, western countries would protect it from Russian aggression.
The U.K. Daily Mail reports:
The U.S. government will no longer conduct anti-satellite missile tests, making it the first nation to enact such a ban, Vice President Harris announced Monday.
The Biden administration is setting the self-imposed ban as part of a goal to make it an ‘international norm for responsible behavior in space,’ Harris said.
The new declaration comes after Russia in November conducted an anti-satellite missile test to destroy its Cosmos-1408 satellite, a soviet-era spacecraft that’s been in orbit since the 1980s.
The explosion generated a cloud of at least 1,500 pieces of trackable debris that threatened the International Space Station. China conducted a similar test in 2007, as did India in 2019. Such tests are highly controversial due to the dangerous debris they can cause – debris from an anti-satellite missile test can travel at thousands of miles and even a small fragment can damage surrounding space stations.
Harris, who chairs the National Space Council, made the announcement during a speech at the Vandenberg Space Force Base. While at the base, the vice president received a briefing on the Space Force and the U.S. Space Command.
Does anyone actually believe that Russia and China will follow the lead of America on this issue?