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Space Wars
There have been lots of interesting stories recently about the US's growing reliance on satellites to control gee-whiz weaponry and provide detailed real-time images to battlefield commanders. MSNBC has a story on the military's growing bandwidth crunch. The AP has a story about how many other nations are putting up their own spy and communications satellites, suggesting that the US edge in space imagery might disappear (unless we start shooting other satellites down, of course). And Bruce Sterling has a fun story in Wired (fun in writing style, not in its implications) suggesting that we're entering an age of Pax Americana, where the US military is so dominant that competitors exist only at our sufferance (though that might not stop people from trying).
As the article pointed out, it's Rumsfelds notion that the US should have untouchable power in space. That we should not only have the power/right to take out rogue nukes from other countries, but that we should have the power/right to "deny" other nations access to space! I heard over the last weekend that the Space Command's motto is "Masters of Space."
I read this whole thing as saying destroy "enemy" communications sat's when they don't correspond to what we think they should be communicating. Perhaps taking out all of the Arabic language sat's would not be out of the question if the trouble in Israel continues. In any case, this power is simply too much for one nation to have.
At this point, I no longer support what has been termed "defensive" weapons. In fact, I've been feeling like the poor nations need some way of leveling the field. In short, I don't think PAX America is all that different from Deuchland Uber Allis, and it makes sense considering the number of Nazi's that we recruited to work in the space program under "operation paperclip". I'll work against it as best I can. We are not the master of space, no matter what Rumsfeld, Ashcroft or any of our other war merchants think.
As the article in Wired pointed out, Russia had been working on developing warheads that would spread sand in orbit to blind other sat's....I'd like to go one step further....railgun!.....they're cheap to build and there's no plume to track! A developing nation could hide one pretty easy. A small golfball could wipe out a spy sat no matter how much armor they put on it....kinda like dropping a bowling ball off a freeway overpass. The best would be to create a trajectory that would hit orbit (sat's playground) and drop within the launching county or some neutral ocean. That way, any nation would truly have the defense that "a spy peering through a keyhole deserves to have his eye put out!" Or perhaps they could even claim "right of way" above their own country.
They are immune to the "weapons of mass destruction" rhetoric that seems to be spewing forth from Washington these days, since nobody would directly be hurt by their use and there is no "nuclear, biological or chemical" componant to them....just an iron golfball that smashes those expensive NSA toys!
This could be the next frontier of asymetric warfare, as it would cost MANY-MANY times more to launch a sat as it would to take it out.
You mean the European theatre would be won by the Soviet Empire, with a half-hearted US entry after they'd done all the work?
The dead in Ramallah and Jenin, in Koh-i-tot and
My Lai, Panama and Grenada, might argue that it was
never very 'pax', but be that as it may, it seems
evident that the 'pax americana' is nearing it's
end. The increasing importance of guerilla attacks
on soft targets, and the rapidly advancing
technology of the opponents of the imperium is
obsoleting the presumed advantages of our military
technology.
The reason for this is that the U.S. is unwilling
(for good reason) to restrict the benefits of
technology to the military system. Every
meaninful advance is reflected in commerical,
off-the-shelf technology, if only after some
small interval. Indeed, COTS tech often leads
dark military tech.
Now this is actually a good
thing for american hegemony, because it is COTS
technology that drives the economy, and it is the
taxation of the economony that enables military
purchasing and R&D. More than anything else
the capacity and remarkable willingness of the
americans to spend such a huge proportion of their
product on increasing their military might
has buttressed american dominance.
Why then do I doubt the ongoing capability of the
americans to rule the world. I already mentioned
soft targets. WTC is an excellent example.
Another major factor is stealth tech. If Sam
Cohen (credited as an inventor of the neutron
bomb) is correct, there are now chemical
explosives available on the grey market, produced
using high-pressure chemical techniques (think
diamond anvils) which detonate with sufficient
force to eventuate a fusion reaction, in the
absence of fissile material. The Soviets have
misplaced 24 small tactical nukes. There is
enough enriched U235 and Pu missing from the U.S.
to remove the state of Texas from the map.
Another major factor is that the U.S. has grossly
abused its hegemonic power by supporting regimes
around the world which have committed galvanizing
attrocities. As a result, there is not only the
means (stealth tech) and the opportunity (soft
targets) but also the *motive* to attack the root
of those attrocities.
In short, all of the elements for a murder
(means, opportunity, and motive) are in place.
I expect the death of the imperium to follow
quite rapidly.
-I like my women like I like my tea: green-