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Could someone provide a link to an article saying that the US specifically wanted the ability to jam Galileo's signal? Not trolling here, just haven't seen one yet.

The closest thing I could find was this: http://www.useu.be/Galileo/June1902NATOBellGalileo GPS.html
If the Galileo signal directly overlays the GPS M-code signal, he warned, "jamming one would also jam the other, resulting in a negative impact on NATO's military effectiveness in the area of operations, potentially risking fratricide on friendly forces and civil populations."
So I don't think that NATO/US is asking for the ability to jam the signal, just stating that the frequencys are close enough that interference/jamming on Galileo could negatively affect GPS.

Sorry if this post isn't fully coherent. I have a pretty bad headache right now.

wired

GPSWorld

US Mission to the EU

Contrast that with what Europe attempted by protecting its industries rather than letting them go and you'll see who had the better model.

Are you fucking kidding me? The US is one of the very worst countries in the western world when it comes to breaking World Trade agreements.

Link 1 of 2,910,615

http://www.useu.be/Categories/ClimateChange/Climat eChangeBush11June01.html

Date : June 11, 2001
Bush Speech on Global Climate Change

President Bush, emphasizing that climate change has the potential to impact every corner of the world, has called for the establishment of national initiatives to study the causes of global warming and to develop technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In a speech delivered in Washington June 11 before departing on a six-day trip for talks with European leaders, Bush said that his administration is committed to a leadership role on the issue of climate change, and that the United States will continue to work with nations around the world to find an effective and science-based response to global warming.

Too bad the tariff was supposed to end in early 2005. Nothing like protectionism to get yourself by.

http://english.people.com.cn/200311/19/eng20031119 _128536.shtml
http://www.useu.be/Categories/Trade/Steel/

Your example of the AIDS help that America gives to Africa is just one small example of the terrible hypocrisy that plagues the American hating world. No other country has sacrificed so much and given so much for complete strangers

A quick Google led me to the verification of a counter-argument to the AIDS protestors. I had heard that the United States federal government spends more on AIDS research than the rest of the world, combined. So this is not counting private research efforts, which expands this gap even further. I found out the precise claim is that America, in fiscal 2002 and 2003, spent more than the rest of the world combined. Accounting for fully 50% of global expenditures in each of 2002 and 2003 is not as impressive a claim as spending more in one year than the rest of the world combined, but it is still a metric assload of money, considering America is not the source of 50% of AIDS cases in the world (source).

But wait, there's more. American taxpayers, starting with the current fiscal year, are spending not just more than the rest of the world's nations combined, but nearly twice as much! So we are going from about 50% to nearly 200% in one year, and it's still not enough for these protestors! So why are we still spat upon? Apparently because:

Critics say Washington's bilateral effort undermines the U.N.-backed Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which is facing a funding shortfall. The United States is already the biggest donor to the fund.

I'm incredulous at this point. Let me see if I have this right. Because we decide not to fund the UN effort, for whatever reason, we are the equivalent of evil incarnate, as if we spent zero on AIDS activities. Let's say for the sake of argument we don't quite trust the UN with a big wad of cash (ever seen an audit of UN finances that will stand up to scrutiny?) and try for once to be responsible with how taxpayer dollars are spent. The net result, whatever the root cause of the decision not to go through the UN, is someone's pet organization is maligned.

So instead of saying, "well, it's your money so you get to spend it the best way you see fit," or try to make UN finances transparent to the outside world so we can actually trust them with tons of cash, or do something constructive to find out why the UN was not chosen and fix that, they point the fingers at them dirty Americans and scream that we're just religious nutcases that want to bomb the rest of the world into mega-corporation submission. At the same time we don't choose the UN as the recipient of the increased funding, we still spend so much of our tax dollars on the UN AIDS organization we supposedly don't care about that we outstrip every other nation's funding for that very organization! And we're still hated for it!? Honestly, I don't even know why we Americans even try to be more nice than absolutely necessary to maintain civil but cool relationships with those who won't be satisfied no matter what we do. We're going to be hated and vilified regardless of our actions.

I guarantee you that if an American mega-corporate pharmaceutical finds a cure for AIDS, it still won't be enough for these protestors. They'll have to take a loss "for the good of mankind", and sell it at or below cost.

And you are thinking of Galileo. (Which has, though I'm not sure, just been neutered by the US)

"I'd like to see some more precise GPS"

Us Olde Europeans are waiting for Galileo ;-P

sure the GPS Signal can be jammed - after all its just a radio transmission - just as good/bad as the Galileo (PRS) system.
The GPS uses two frequencies one for civilian use one for military uses, the first one artificially not as precise, the military signal encrypted.So when the DoD would decide to jam the civilian signal it won't affect the military part of the system.
When the Galileo consortium were designing the system, they decided to use the same frequency as the military GPS. If the US would, for any reason, decide to jam the PRS, at the same time they would affect they own system. A actual simple sollution for protecting this system agains any, well lets say mischance ;-)
But as GPS is still the NATO standard there are still needs for the possibility to keep enemies from using any satelite positioning system. After all Galileo is not ment to be a military system, but can of course be misused in this sense.So what to do if there is a NATO "deployment" and you want to keep your enemy from hitting your troops while still having the ability to use modern warfare (smart bombs etc.) ?

Hope this brings some sense into this topic.

Thomas

more info: http://www.useu.be/Galileo/June1902NATOBellGalileo GPS.html

No, it will not be more accurate than GPS. By the time these satellites get up (if ever they do), GPS will have added another frequency (L5) for civilian navigation purposes. Galileo might be slightly more accurate than what GPS provides to the military (via Y-code) right now. Big whoop.

Of course, and I'll display a bit of peevishness right now from reading the sentiments of Yuropeens in other comments, the whole damn Galileo system basically runs in the ruts created by TWENTY years of GPS (even more by the time Galileo is launched), to the extent that one of Galileo's frequencies overlays the primary frequency of GPS (L1 - 1575MHz). It is this overlay and concerns about regulations that are the U.S.'s primary concerns with the system. To whit, this blurb. There's a slighty more reactionary piece at CNN. Note however, that the military is notoriously conservative, and if there is even the possibility of interference, they can get all uppity.

This is a bit more information about the frequency allocations and gives a bit of info about the accuracy of both systems. Certainly a dual-mode system using both Galileo and GPS should be more accurate than a single system, but if you're in the continental U.S. you can probably get differential GPS anyway, and the next GPS system is supposed to be up in the 2012 timeframe if we're lucky.

So yeah, go to all the expense you want to create a dual system or whatever brings a tear of Continental Pride to your eye, but in my mind it's billions of dollars resulting in some nice lessons but without providing any additional capability. For fuck's sake, you should be happy that the American taxpayer is footing the damn bill to provide you with such accurate information now and for the forseeable future. But please, continue bitching about how evil and reckless America is, I almost can't get to sleep anymore without that constant low-level whining.

Apparently the Pentagon sees no compelling reason for an alternative to GPS. Oops, that would be before they checked their GPS units round about now. Oh wait, I forgot, they have their fingers on the buttons, perhaps that why they can't see a compelling reason.

Oops look; those pesky photons might interfere with each other

On the other hand, to be fair, the US could have just degraded the signal without announcing it. At least now ships and planes probably won't be piloted into rocks.

Dairy farmers have been giving hormones to dairy cows to produce more milk, and beef farmers have been giving to shorten the time to market for poultry. What we see as a result, are more and more children reaching puberty at younger ages and appearing older than they are...yes there is some creedence to the old joke "Your Honor, she looked eighteen!" Will a tearless onion mean we will eventually loose the ability to tear ourselves? I doubt it, but what ever change they make in the onion will eventually make a change in us.

• Massachusetts Burma law
  
• EU Banana import policy
  
• Hormone-raised beeif
  

  Nick