SpaceX Wins Injunction Against Russian Rocket Purchases

Rambo Tribble (1273454) writes "Reuters is reporting that Space Exploration Technologies, aka SpaceX, has won a Federal Claims Court temporary injunction against the purchase by United Launch Alliance of Russian-made rocket boosters, intended for use by the United States Air Force. In her ruling Judge Susan Braden prohibited ULA and the USAF, 'from making any purchases from or payment of money to [Russian firm] NPO Energomash.' United Launch Alliance is a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin."

Comments

Re:Russian Rocket Motors?

[Immerman]

In farness, what justification would we use to sanction Russia? They're executing a relatively bloodless land grab reclaiming old territory that has an ethnic Russian majority who is being openly abused by the Ukranian government. We have a memorandum of understanding (not even a treaty) with the Ukraine that requires us to lodge a formal complaint with the UN if nuclear weapons are used against it.

We on the other hand have recently laid claim to Iraq, an area in which we have no historic, ethnic, or ethical interest. The only difference is we installed a puppet government instead of claiming it outright. And that we did it at the cost of hundreds of thousands of civilian lives.

The invention of nuclear weapons created an uneasy peace for a time, but we can't expect that peace to perpetually maintain an arbitrary homeostasis with national boundaries forever locked at the position they were when nukes were invented. Especially when a lot of those boundaries were laid in place as land-grabs by the winners. Israel anyone? Yeah, don't mind us, we're just going to take this chunk of what's been your land for a millenium, including your most sacred religious sites and your entire Mediterranean sea border, and give it to a bunch of our allies who happen to also have a major axe to grind against you. Your team lost the war, so Suck It Up. We like hamstringing your economy and having a strong military base in the middle of your territory.

Personally I'd rather see those borders redrawn today, in as civil a means as possible, than to have those old festering wounds still present by late century when global warming will start putting real pressure on things. War is likely to come regardless, but I suspect it will be far uglier if politicians have lots of old resentment to draw on to motivate their troops.