Full Spectrum Hypocrisy

From END Info 18 | August 2020. Download here

The alleged 15 July 2020 testing of the Cosmos 2543 Russian satellite has provoked an outpouring of accusations and threats. The Financial Times (31/07/20) declared in one headline that ‘Russia satellite weapon test reignites space arms race fears’. This headline and the quotes in the article from a variety of US military sources suggest that Russia alone has provoked the ‘militarisation of space’.

In fact, the Cosmos 2543 satellite seems to be a rather rudimentary affair when compared to the ‘all-singing-all-dancing’ United States Space Force and the aspirations for the ‘control of space’ contained in the Joint Vision 2020 documents of the mid-2000s. As far as we know, the Russian satellite contains no laser weapons systems or any other particularly ‘high-tech’ devices. Rather, the Russian ‘space weapon’ functions by firing a projectile of some kind at other satellites.

Of course, the hypocrisy of US commentators and politicians surrounding the alleged Russian test and attempts to lay the blame on Russia and China for igniting an arms race in space, should not surprise us. It is important to be aware of the degree to which the US and allies have already militarised space and the dangers created by such a process. Writing in the Spring/Summer edition of Space Alert! (www.space4peace.org), Bruce Gagnon explains:

“The US has been leading the way to militarize and weaponize [space] since the start. For a while the former Soviet Union was in the game—until its collapse in 1991. Neither Russia nor China could keep up with the US in the following years and they continually begged the US to join them in negotiating a treaty to ban all weapons in space—close the door to the barn before the horse gets out. During Republican and Democrat administrations the response to Moscow and Beijing was the same from Washington—NO.”