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Galileo To Be Europe's Answer To US GPS

Posted by Soulskill on from the zombie-galileo-knows-how-to-get-to-grandma's-house dept.

judgecorp writes "Two Galileo satellites that will signify the start of the European Union's answer to the American Global Positioning System will be launched into orbit on Thursday aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. It's using Soyuz because it is cheaper than the French Ariane — and the satellite system is supposed to free Europe from dependence on a U.S.-controlled positioning system."

3 of 402 comments (clear)

  1. Re:For such a vital system. by jandersen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't buy that the stated purpose for the system (independence from the US's military) is very credible, given that the US is, you know, part of NATO and whatnot. And if the EU does turn hostile to the US in some sort of bizarro-world, the US possesses capabilities to shoot them down. So it doesn't make a lot of sense along those lines.

    Military alliances like NATO have their place, but I think a major part of this is not about being America's enemy, only about independence. Is it in Europe's interest to not feel they have to bow to America's political pressure? I should certainly think so. America is far to much in the pockets of big corporations, and as long as that is so, I think a politically weaker America is in everybody elses interest - and possibly in the American people's interest as well.

  2. Re:For such a vital system. by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The purpose is easy. Extract money from the citizens. That's the only purpose for which the EU exists.

    Please spare us the "TAXES R T3H 3V1L" crap. I pay lots more tax here than I would in the US; however, unlike the case in the US, I find that at least some of the taxes get spent on things that tend to make life better for all.

    It's sad that Europeans have to read this news on US sites.

    Did you actually see where the links in TFS point to?

    Maybe that explains why so many Europeans feel the EU is an evil institute. But I bet nobody outside the EU ever hears about tat.

    "So many" = "a few right-wing nutjobs".

    Nice attempt at trolling. Better luck next time.

    --
    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  3. Re:For such a vital system. by peppepz · · Score: 5, Insightful
    EU citizens often get a negative view of the EU because national governments blame the EU for their own negligence. Inflation skyrockets? "It's the Euro's fault". They need to raise the minimum retirement age? "It's the EU that is asking this from us".

    Also, nationalist movements gain consensus by opposing against yelding any sovereignty to the european institutions; this makes the EU weaker, which then allows themselves to point out the EU is just a bureaucratic superstructure with no decision power.

    The nationalists whine against the EU when it's time for a state to offer its help to other countries in the union, and then whine again against the EU when it's time to get help from the union, and it doesn't arrive because the nationalists in the other states behave exactly in the same way as they did before (see what happens every time some states are hit by an immigration wave).