width=”100″ height=”140″ border=”0″ title=”Spaceweapons” alt=”Spaceweapons” src=”http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/files/images/spaceweapons.jpg” /> Turns out the "Bush Doctrine" extends to outer space, too.
As reportedin the Washington Post, the president last month signed an order asserting the right of the United States to deny adversaries access to space for hostile purposes. At the same time, the order says the United States will accept no treaties limiting its own extraterrestrial activities.
While the order didn’t rouse much comment in the United States, it has raised some eyebrows — and ire — across the pond. As this story in the Independent notes, the order is being widely criticized as more of the pre-emptive swagger and unilateralism that has worked out so well in Iraq.
While it seems obvious that we want to prevent enemies from developing space-based weapons, was it really necessary, now, to issue a formal statement that America owns the skies?
Posted by Dave Knadler
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38 Comments
Now Dave we’s the biggest, baddist, motoskooters on the block! Da ya know? We can whip the world and not break a sweat, don’t the world know tat? Its would appear that they don’t… they not be’n kiss’n tat ring lately! Hell if’n we be want’n whats they got..don’t think about it…We be just tak’n whats be ours any-te -way!
Where’s flash gordon when you need em!
What the world needs is a cross between a hydrogen bomb and a pot plant.
Typical liberals…
Lets sit back and allow other countries to place harmful weapons into space and then wonder what to do later when they become a problem…
It is not about owning the skies, it is about protecting our interests.
You do care about those don’t you?
You’re right, Nathan : WE should be the only country allowed to place WMD in space because we have God on our side and everything we do is rightious. Don’t believe me? Just ask the decider.
Amen, JM!Why can’t you see that it’s this sort of USA arrogance that has imprisioned us in this current mess, Nathan?Realistically, how many countries who hate our guts have the technology and financial resources to stay in space for any lenght of time? George is just pissin’ in the wind with this one.
PS I hope you’re doing OK, So how is Iraq? What are you doing?
So…
If North Korea were trying to put harful weapons into space, would you want us to stop him or doea he have a right to do so?
Would you sit around wondering about America looking bad or do you actually want to stop bad people from doing things which threaten our security?
I swear you people have never been to another country and don’t appreciate anything in America. You sit here and take for granted what we have here and if we want to portect ourselves from a threat you ask what gives us the right?
Mary,
I am doing good. I am fixing weapons out here.
Are you on my update list?
If not, talk to my father and get my email and send me a line and I will add you to my updates.
Nathan,
“I swear you people have never been to another country and don’t appreciate anything in America.”
You know damn well I’m a Viet Nam vet. The shit and squaller if seen people from other countries living in makes me sick. I appreciate what we have here more than you could hope to know. What I don’t appreciate is some megalomaniac using bully tactics and destroying any chance of a united golbal front against terrorism as the current president of this country is doing.
From the wording, it appears every nation attempting to put anything in space must get the okay from this government. After all, just because France says it is putting a communications satalite into space, how do we really know that’s what it is and not some super-laser?
Arrogance, Nathan, nothing but pure arrogance. This was a matter for the united nations, as much as you disregard their opinion, and not one country.
JM Walker,
So you would rather sit idly by and watch as someone launches a weapon to threaten us?
This is why Republicans are better trusted for the security of this country.
Seems to me most of your response has more to do with your discontent with Bush rather than his acting to stop threats.
It is always about how to hate Bush regardless of the good.
Excuse me Nathan, I’ve been to at least 12 different countries, no one appricates what we have here like I do. We live in the greatest country in the world, and I love my country. That’s why it breaks my heart to see how everything we stand for is being destroyed by this administration. Bush is a horrible president who has not done anything except make us hated throughout the world with his ignorance and cowboy arrogance. If you think we’re going to win the war on terrorism by invading countries and overthrowing their governments, think again. How would you feel if it happened to us? If 9/11 had been handled appropriately, we wouldn’t be in the no-win situation we are in now.I understand completely how you feel when it comes to keeping us safe, but unfortunately the stratagy that Bush has implemented is not going to work, it will only make things worse. You can’t comapare this war to WWll, the enemy we’re fighting against doesn’t care if they live or die. Muslim extremists are all over the world, and it’s pretty unrealistic to think we can kill them all off.Whne we invaded Iraq, that gave them all the permission they needed to fight a holy war against us, it was the best thing we could have done for Bin Laden’s cause.
Mary,
Wrong thread, seems you are more focused on your hate for Bush rather than our stopping people from placing things in space which threaten us.
Mary,
When we invaded Afghanistan (The only war you liberals seem to agree with) it is fundamentally no different than Iraq to a terrorist who is simply going to get all riled up into a holy war for our mere presence.
Nathan,A WORLD coalition united against terrorism seems to me to be a hell of a lot more effective than one country claiming king of the hill status. What Bush is doing is negating any chance of that ever happening. So maybe this “hatred” of Bush stems from the fact he is doing everything he can to subvert a global resistance to terrorism.
But that is just my opinion, is it not? O, wait . . . it seems over 50% of the country agrees with me, or are they being misled also (sarcasm)?
JM Walker,
So you are saying the other countries don’t care about terrorism because of Bush?
That is silly.
Countries may not be in unanimous support of how we are going about it or in disagreement with what we are currently doing, but I am pretty sure that is not stopping them from doing what they can to stop terrorism when it effects them.
Awww Nathan
You’re smarter than that – stop tossing out the term liberal when ever some one doesn’t agree with you ….
Yes, we should be able to exercise our right to try to be the peacekeepers of the world, but with our vast wealth we don’t need to use a “bully” pulpit to do it. This and administrations in the past (Democrats too) have most often used the tip of the spear to exercise our position in the world – there has to be some merit to the idea of periodically using the tip of the spear to offer “a piece of bread and butter” on the tip. It has not been tried in the recent past — we have no problem with building bombs and billion dollar weapons to offer the world, but we rarely offer our advanced technologies in energy production, farming and manufacturing to change and improve the world condition. Please don’t twist what I suggest certainly there are times when we need to get a dictators attention by softening them with a slap upside the head — but afterwards a better use of our military would be to escort in humanitarian aid to the population. Seems to work well for Hezzbollah in Lebanon — winning the hearts and minds of the population — we are able to beat them at their own game — we just have to choose to do so.
I am reminded of an old American propoganda song from world war II. It was against Hitler. Part of it went….
When der Fuhrer says”We own de vorld un space”den we Heil! Heil!right in der Fuhrers face.
America is the greatest country in the world? I wouldn’t know. I know it is failing alot of its citizens and in many ways. I know America is almost universally hated. It did not have to be so.
Nathan? To you, the voyages to the Moon are like that old propoganda song to me. It is something from the past. You have no personal memory of it.
I REMEMBER watching “live from the Moon” footage.
What a tremendous opportnity we sqaundered there. It was enough for our jingoistic pride that we had beat the Russians to the Moon so we just declared victory and quit. How shamefully shortsighted and stupid that was.
We had the opportunity at that point to lead the entire world in a mission of solar system exploration. There should have been international presences on the Moon and Mars by now. But no. The stupidity of the Vietnam war and the irrational fear and mistrust of the Soviet Union may have had a lot to do with that.
China is NOT so shortsigted. They are developing a vigourous space program. They may well land on the Moon in just a few years.
We have NO RIGHT to restrict their or any nations access to space. The United States had its chance. It still does. But space does not belong to just one country and if we are too greedy or shortsighted to embrace and explore the new frontier? Well then let it be to other nations to lead us into the future.
I don’t agree with the US trying to rule the world, and I sure don’t agree with the US trying to rule space. If we keep acting like bullies like Romans, we’re going to end up falling like Rome.
This shouldn’t even be discussed. All this topic is doing is driving more of a wedge between Dems and Repubs.Basically all this order is saying is No, China, North Korea, Iran, whoever else, we won’t carry your star wars weapons on our space shuttle.Does anyone have a problem with that?And No, as part of North Korea or some other rogue nation freezing a nuclear program (like they can be trusted) we won’t give up a missle defense program.Does anyone have a problem with us signing over our right to defend ourselves?The US “Star Wars” program has does not include weapons. Only defense systems.
JR, they stopped the lunar programs because of the economics.Do you remember that a lot people were complaining about all the money that was going into it?They were also complaining about why were going there in the first place.
Pride goeth before a fall.
Nathan I think Bush is the worst president we’ve ever had because of his failed policies and blunders, and the way he’s threatened our security rather than protecting it effectively. I don’t know him personaly, so I really can’t “hate” him. No, I don’t want countries to put WMDs in space, I wouldn’t want us to do that either. Everything is so black and white, you look at the issues in such a simple way, life isn’t black or white and issues just aren’t that simple.
Wiseman
I know that economics was a big factor. But let’s think about that for a minute.
BILLIONS were invested to develop the technology. The Saturn V rocket was a proven success. MOST of the money to do that was already spent. For us to just stop as we did is sort of like buying an expensive car, driving it a dozen or so times while lamenting the money you spent and then just parking the car on the driveway to rot.
Consider if the money or even part of the money spent on the Vietnam war had not been spent. The “burden” of the space program would have seemed considerably less. Too, the negative feeling in the country surrounding the war did not lend to optimism or a sense of adventure. Nixon was a zero in the “inspiration” department. So sad.
There are no doubt those intent on keeping humanity Earth bound. A truly international space endeavor would begin to de-provincialize the Earth. There aint much money in peace.
Here’s a crazy idea: Instead of spending billions funding people walking on moon rocks, why don’t we spend our tax dollars for progress in our local communities? I think our communities should take precedence over the next-generation “star wars” weapon of mass destruction.
JR,
Go back to playing Alpha Centari pal, this is the real world.
Every time Nathan, et. al, say “You liberals,” I tune out because I know he/they will trot out some tired, 13th Century, right-wing, chest-beating, macho BS.Man, it gets boring.And Nathan, you’re not the only one who has been in the military. A whole lot of us have been in uniform, and yet, strangly, continue to think that Bush, as has often been stated on this blog, is theworst. president. ever
Yeah – JRI was saddened when they decided to stop going to the moon, I wonder as to how far we would have been if we had kept going, Holiday Inn vacation on Luna?
Dennis,
You can think he is the worst president all you want. It is not based on any intelligent well thought out argument, but your own hate for the man.
Seriously, look at all the posts on this blog. No matter what the subject, if it involves Bush he is wrong, he is the worst president ever.
I still don’t understand why “you liberals” get all upset when you are called that.
I don’t care when you call me a conservative.
Nathan,Don’t waste your life following some fool’s orders.
Nathan seems fixated on “your hate for bush”. Do you ever wonder WHY some of us dislike bush?
Hate Bush? No. Dislike, disagree with, am disturbed and disillusioned by, and sometimes even fearful of? Yes. But it isn’t the man, it’s his actions and words.
Nathan, it’s kind of like your stand on gays. You hate the sin but love the sinner. That’s similar to the way we feel about Bush, although I don’t think “love” is a term I’d use in that respect, except in the broad way that he’s a human, too. Cheney is another matter as far as human is concerned. ;) (joke)
And the majority of my comments of disfavor have and will include, not just Bush, but the entire Administration.
Has anybody here ever watched the comedian Eddie Izzard? If you have, then you’ll understand the FLAG reference.
Just because we were the first on the moon and planted a flag, that doesn’t mean we own space. It would be pushing it to say we owned the moon. We sure don’t own earth, but if we did, we aren’t taken very good care of it or its inhabitants.
Weren’t the Russians the first to put a man in space? Does the name Yuri Gagarin ring a bell? Should Russia be allowed to claim space as theirs because of this? Oh? We went farther, you say? We are now doing that internationally, aren’t we, via the space shuttle?
None of us own space. We use it and we sometimes abuse it. If anybody has the right to say what can and can’t happen in space, who can and can’t do what, I’d say that’s the International community, whether through the U.N. or through a community that could, in the future be enacted by ALL countries.
I guess because we feel we can tell the world who can have nuclear materials and who can’t, while we have amassed the largest collection of it, we have the right to do whatever we want.
Yeah, the fall of Rome does come to mind.
Only the strong survive. That’s the simple reality of it all. If Iran or North Korea had a more powerful military than ours, they wouldn’t hesitate to take us out. America is only around because it is the strongest nation in the world. When some other dog on the block gets big enough to take us on, don’t think they’ll give a rat’s ass about Geneva Conventions or the abide by the rules of warfare.
Will or anybody,
When DID the U.S. become a super power? I’m thinking 20th century or during the Industrial Era.
Our problem lies in focusing on recent history, as in the last three centuries, and not taking into account more ancient and all history.
I LOVE Eddie Izzard…now he’s one who really knows his history!
He sure does, Mary!! Have you visited his website? Great and very funny autobiography there.
http://www.eddieizzard.com
All this dribble in this thread is useless. This country has entered into a treaty, along with other countries, not to place weapons in space. Period. Bush the criminal has shown he dose not respect any treaty from his past acts. It is time regardless of so-called-political party to hold accountable those criminal politicians who violate laws and treaties.
Nathan as long as you allow your partisanship to blind you to reality. You will only see everything as “Like Bush/hate Bush”. The distrust and distain for Bush is for him alone. It is not his party or his faith, it is that he had done more to lower the United States in our power in the world then the terrorists.
His misguided personal conquest of Iraq has undermined the war on terrorism. His grab for ultimate power as a emperor in a democracy. His claim to the powers of a war time President, of course the problem is that there is no declared war to back up his claim. His undermining of the Constitution is doing more damage to the fabric of this nation then OBL or Iran could ever hope for or do.
I DO hate Bush, funny thing about me… I hate everyone that want to destroy this nation. More important I hate Bush because he can bring this country to its knees. Which is more then N.Korea, Iran, OBL, Al-Qaeda can do.