LOGO: Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines. A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman. Winner 2013 Webby Awards for Best Political Website
May 21, 2013

 Choose a size
Text Size

Trending:     chris hedges     economy     elizabeth warren     politics     robert scheer
Most Read

Rise Up or Die

Revenge of the Bear: Russia Strikes Back in Syria

Real American Boy: How Our Byzantine Immigration System and Failed Economy May Have Made a Terrorist

Tumblr Is Worth $1.1 Billion to Yahoo for One Reason: You

It's News, Not Espionage

Most Comments
Most Emailed

Reports
 * NEW! * Too Soon to Tell: The Case for Hope, Continued
 * NEW! * Warming Climate Endangers U.K. Farming

Ear to the Ground

A/V Booth

Arts & Culture
Act of Congress
Daily Rituals
The Girls of Atomic City

Digs

Truthdig Bazaar more items

 
Ear to the Ground

China, U.S. May Be Preparing for Star Wars

Email this item Email    Print this item Print    Share this item... Share

Posted on Jan 18, 2007
China satellite
hhill.org

China has successfully completed a test of an anti-satellite weapon, alarming the United States and other nations, the White House said.

Although the Bush administration is weary of a possible militarized space race, it has steadfastly opposed a ban on such tests in order to preserve U.S. “freedom of action in space.”


New York Times:

China successfully carried out its first test of an antisatellite weapon last week, signaling its resolve to play a major role in military space activities and bringing expressions of concern from Washington and other capitals, the Bush administration said yesterday.

Only two nations—the Soviet Union and the United States—have previously destroyed spacecraft in antisatellite tests, most recently the United States in the mid-1980s.

Arms control experts called the test, in which the weapon destroyed an aging Chinese weather satellite, a troubling development that could foreshadow an antisatellite arms race. Alternatively, however, some experts speculated that it could precede a diplomatic effort by China to prod the Bush administration into negotiations on a weapons ban.

“This is the first real escalation in the weaponization of space that we’ve seen in 20 years,” said Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard astronomer who tracks rocket launchings and space activity. “It ends a long period of restraint.”

Read more

More Below the Ad

Advertisement


New and Improved Comments

If you have trouble leaving a comment, review this help page. Still having problems? Let us know. If you find yourself moderated, take a moment to review our comment policy.

By BlueBerry Pick'n, January 19, 2007 at 3:32 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Please forgive my rudeness GSS.  but your knowledge of State of Formlessness is… ah screw it, dude, your Kung Fu is weak, okay?

Flavius Vegetius Renatus said, “Let him who desires peace prepare for war.

getting back to Sun Tzu, “

[[url=“http://www.kimsoft.com/polwar8.htm”]Ts`ao Kung has the note:  “He who wishes to fight must
first count the cost,” which prepares us for the discovery that
the subject of the chapter is not what we might expect from the
title, but is primarily a consideration of <a href=“http://waysandmeans.house.gov/event.asp”>ways and means[/url].]

the irony?  that the Russians learned from the Mongols.  That the Chinese, learned from the Great Khan.  That when Napoleon got his hands on a Sun Tzu translation, he invaded Russia.

who operated using the same counter-Mongolian tactics.  The Scorched Earth policy destroyed army after army… for millennia.  It still works in Afghanistan, Iran…

amazing, how Russia still keeps a massive area of land verboten… to hide the Khan’s Spirit Banner...

Where are the ANCIENT civilizations?  Not so much the Europe, are they?


Spread Love…
    ... but wear the Glove!

BlueBerry Pick’n
can be found @
ThisCanadian
Silent Freedom is Freedom Silenced

Report this

By Quy Tran, January 19, 2007 at 2:53 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Hey, wake up the paper tiger !

Report this

By Gary Maxwell, January 19, 2007 at 1:54 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Before we criticize China, let’s not forget that it was the US that started the escalation of the space weapons arms race.  We are developing an Anti Ballistic Missile (ABM) system and have had the ability to shoot down satellites for years.  It was the Bush administration who claimed that the US has the right to deny space to anyone who they don’t like.  And it was the US that walked away from a treaty proposed by China to ban space weapons.

China did not start this arms race; they are just trying to catch up.

It would be a good time for everyone to sit down and sign a treaty to ban space weapons (including ABM systems).

Report this

By Rodney Matthews, January 19, 2007 at 12:06 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Hey King George the Decider,after we finish up in Iraq,we’ll attack Iran,then North Korea,then China,then Russia,then Venezulua,then Cuba,then any other country that disagrees or is disobedient. Hurry up George you and Cheney only have two years left to take over the world unless the Decider decides not to leave in 2008.

Report this

By Bluestocking, January 19, 2007 at 11:52 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

There have been a number of times such as this over the last few years which have made me think that perhaps humanity is slowly surrendering to what Sigmund Freud referred to as thanatos—a wish for death, a desire to eradicate everything—because we can’t seem to stop ourselves (and don’t seem to have much interest in stopping ourselves) from provoking each other and upping the ante anymore.

Report this

By Bluestocking, January 19, 2007 at 11:38 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

There have been a number of times such as this over the last few years which have made me think that perhaps humanity is slowly surrendering to what Sigmund Freud referred to as thanatos—a wish for death, a desire to eradicate everything—because we can’t seem to stop ourselves (and don’t seem to have much interest in stopping ourselves) from provoking each other and upping the anymore.

Report this

By BlueBerry Pick'n, January 19, 2007 at 9:27 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

“If we, for instance, got into a conflict over Taiwan, one of the first things they’d probably do would be to shoot down all of our lower Earth-orbit spy satellites, putting out our eyes,” said John Pike of globalsecurity.org, a Web site that compiles information on worldwide security issues.

“The thing that is surprising and disturbing is that [the Chinese] have chosen this moment to demonstrate a military capability that can only be aimed at the United States,” he said.</indent>

Amazing that nobody is really talking about the importance of this move.

[url=“http://thiscanadian.typepad.com/this_canadian/2007/01/harper_targets_.html”]China sidestepped the entire domination effort by simply directing activity towards Iran, Ukrainian energy…

& focusing on <a href=“http://thiscanadian.typepad.com/this_canadian/2007/01/chinas_suggeste.html”>telecom dominance[/url].

amazing.  Gotta love the Chinese: we keep thinking WE KNOW politics...

North America has got such an ADOLESCENT political understanding, don’t we?

Meeting ‘Mr. Tuple’:  Six Degrees of INseparability:  tagging, data-mining & Terrorism Scores

Spread Love…
    ... but wear the Glove!

BlueBerry Pick’n
can be found @
ThisCanadian
Silent Freedom is Freedom Silenced

Report this

By Christopher Robin, January 19, 2007 at 9:10 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

And this evil plot , continues….as China aims it’s diabolical weapon upon Walmart’s satellite network…...disrupting the discount declining economy of “free world”

Will the Pop-tart supply experience disruptions as Walmart’s vast television monitoring system grows dark in the bentonville bunker?

stay tuned…..

Report this

By george S Semsel, January 19, 2007 at 7:42 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

So, what country has China invaded recently?

Report this
Newsletter

sign up to get updates


 
 
 
 
Join the Liberal Blog Advertising Network
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.
© 2013 Truthdig, LLC. All rights reserved.