To infinity...and beyond!

If you want to better understand the skepticism with which some people and some nations viewed the recent shoot down of a dying US spy satellite, just remember that a country that has scattered hundreds of metric tons of depleted uranium and more than a 100,000 landmines over large swaths of the planet has to be expect some skepticism when it makes a big fuss over (possibly) protecting (admittedly) small numbers of people from (the highly unlikely) exposure to hydrazine fuel.

Plus, it’s not as though the United States isn’t openly panting about militarizing space -- all you have to do is google. Just read through the US Space Command’s mission statement, Vision for 2020 [PDF link]. You’ll start to think it wasn’t all about the hydrazine fuel either. Perhaps something was indeed very “different” about this “satellite.”



Don’t be distracted by the somewhat incoherent PowerPoint copy and the ridiculous illustrations, obviously inspired by Star Wars and Mars Attacks!, featured in the Vision statement. The US Space Command, which bills itself as the “one-stop shop for space support,” is deadly serious about being “persuasive in peace, decisive in war, and preeminent in any form of conflict.“ The objective is “full spectrum dominance” of space and, thus, of earth.

Global Engagement is the application of precision force from, to, and through space. USSPACECOM will have a greatly expanded role as an active war fighter in the years ahead as the combatant command responsible for National Missile Defense (NMD) and space force application. Global Engagement combines global surveillance with the potential for a space-based global precision strike capability.[emph added]

And because an economically globalized world apparently is not going to be a happy-happy place for everyone, US Space Command is committed to keeping an eye out for any rebellious peasants.

Although unlikely to be challenged by a global peer competitor, the United States will continue to be challenged regionally. The globalization of the world economy will also continue, with a widening between “haves” and “have-nots.”

Duck and cover, you have-nots. Duck and cover.