Responses to Chinese test [5]: "

Most Russian news repeated almost verbatim the US and British press reports on the Chinese ASAT test, but there is a little info this afternoon on the Russian reaction. (Only Russian language links are up for now, translations are mine.)

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov commented to reporters that he has heard reports of the Chinese test, but thinks that the rumors are quite abstract and are exaggerated.

In an interview, vice-preseident of the Russian Academy of geopolitcal affairs, General Leonid Ivashov, said that he thinks the Chinese used Russian developments for making their antisatellite missiles:

‘I think that China used as a base our Soviet IS-1 (statellite destroyer) system, modernized it and carried out a test.’

[snip]

‘We remember Bush’s announcements about monopolization of space and his threat to destroy all unidentified satellites. Therefore it is possible to say that, it is indeed the Americans who are provoking a new arms race in space ’ [Ivashov] said, noting that China is compelled to react to such US policy.

Japan and Australia seem more concerned than the Russians, and have demanded explanations from the Chinese government.

"

(Via ArmsControlWonk.)

Responses to Chinese test [5]

Congressional Reaction to Chinese ASAT Test: "

House Science and Technology Chair Gordon Comments on Reported Chinese ASAT Test

'I am deeply concerned about the reported Chinese anti-satellite test.  I believe that it is ill-advised for a number of reasons:  it is destabilizing; the debris cloud created as a result of the test increases the risk to civil and commercial satellites; and the test fosters an environment that will make it more difficult to consider potential cooperation with China in civil space activities.  I hope that this will be the last such test to occur.'

Markey Denounces Chinese Missile Test - Calls on Bush Administration to Strike Agreement to Ban Future Tests

'The Chinese anti-satellite test is terrible news for international stability and security, and could presage the dawn of a new arms race -- this time in space,' Rep. Markey said.  'American satellites are the soft underbelly of our national security, and it is urgent that President Bush move to guarantee their protection by initiating an international agreement to ban the development, testing, and deployment of space weapons and anti-satellite systems.'

(Via NASA Watch.)

Congressional Reaction to Chinese ASAT Test

China ASAT test reactions and questions: "

The news first announced Wednesday night that China tested an ASAT weapon last week, destroying a satellite, became one of the biggest stories internationally yesterday. The report was confirmed by a National Security Council spokesman yesterday morning, and by the end of the day the US and other countries, including Canada, Japan, Australia, and South Korea, had 'expressed concern' about the test. The Chinese have remained silent, with no news about the test in state-run media.

The test does raise several questions about which there has been a lot of speculation, but few firm answers:

Why did China conduct the test? The test took a lot of people by surprise (although apparently not in the US intelligence community, which believed that a test was imminent), both because of the bluntness of it and the fact that, prior to it, China had insisted it had no interest in space weapons and was pushing for a treaty to ban such devices. 'There’s nothing subtle about this,' Michael Krepon of the Stimson Center told the New York Times. Does this mean that China is no longer interested in a ban on such weapons, or is it an effort to get the attention of the US and force it to the negotiation table?

How will the Bush Administration respond? Will the US, in fact, reconsider its stance on PAROS, now that there is evidence of an 'arms race in space', or will it push the US to accelerate work on defensive and offensive counterspace systems? The Union of Concerned Scientists wants the US to take the former path, but that would involve a significant change of course from the current national space policy.

What about Congress? The House and Senate armed services committees will get classified briefings about the Chinese ASAT test today, Space News reports [subscription required]. One member of Congress, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), co-chair of the House Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation, condemned the test in a statement but also called on the administration to negotiate a ban on space weapons. 'American satellites are the soft underbelly of our national security, and it is urgent that President Bush move to guarantee their protection by initiating an international agreement to ban the development, testing, and deployment of space weapons and anti-satellite systems.'

"

(Via Space Politics.)

China ASAT test reactions and questions

CANADA: Liberals would seek international ban on weaponization of space: leaked platform: "

canada, canadian search engine, free email, canada news
Wednesday » January 11 » 2006

Grits would seek international ban on weaponization of space: leaked platform.
Alexander Panetta
Canadian Press
Wednesday, January 11, 2006

MONTREAL (CP) - Canada would seek an international deal to permanently ban weapons in space under a re-elected Liberal government, according to a leaked copy of the party's platform.

The pledge is aimed at rallying the nation's more moderate voters behind the Liberals in a late-campaign drive to reverse the governing party's sagging electoral prospects. Paul Martin will take that stand against weapons in space when he unveils his party platform as early as Wednesday and will paint the pledge as the latest in a long line of Liberal-led peace initiatives.

The idea will almost certainly meet with hostility from the U.S. government, coming on the heels of Canada's refusal to sign on to the American missile-defence project.

As much as that missile snub irritated the White House, public opinion polls conducted earlier this year suggested it was a crowd-pleaser in Canada.

The weapons pledge is one of the few headline-grabbing announcements left for a Liberal party seeking to strike a chord with voters before the Jan. 23 election.

'Liberals are firmly opposed to the weaponization of space and recognize that the best time to prevent an arms race in space is before one begins,' says the leaked version of the platform.

The 85-page document was posted on the website for the conservative Western Standard magazine and confirms unpublished rumours of an impending Liberal space-weapons announcement.

The proposal is modelled on the 1999 international mine ban treaty, for which then-foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

While the Liberal minister did not win the award, he was applauded for an effort that now includes 146 countries and helped clear more than 130 million square metres of land mines around the world.

The United States, China, India and Russia did not sign on to that treaty and it's entirely possible that the world military powers will also take a dim view of the space-weapons pledge.

The Liberals plan to also draw parallels between their proposed space-weapons plan and past initiatives like Pierre Trudeau's nuclear-disarmament tour and Lester B. Pearson's role in resolving the 1956 Suez crisis, which earned him the Nobel prize.

There is at least one notable difference between Martin's impending promise and the land-mines initiative it is supposed to emulate.

Unlike land mines - a global scourge that has killed and maimed thousands of civilians around the world - there are no weapons in space and won't be for the foreseeable future.

The U.S. says its current missile project, which includes interceptor sites in Alaska and California, does not include imminent plans for weapons in space.

Furthermore, the leaked document concedes that an existing international agreement already bans weapons of mass destruction in space. It adds, however, that no such deal exists for smaller-scale weapons.

The rest of the leaked Liberal platform largely confirms recently announced promises. Those pledges include:

- $30 billion in personal income-tax cuts.

- Eliminating the $975 landing fee for immigrants.

- Up to $3,000 to help first-and last-year undergraduate students with tuition and a $150 million fund to offset tuition costs for those wishing to study abroad.

- $3.5 billion for workplace skills training.

- A so-called 'ban' on handguns that would require collectors to disarm their weapons. The plan would also see millions go to police and community projects to help reduce urban crime.

- Continuing to reduce the nation's debt-to-GDP ratio to 20 per cent by 2020 - a level unseen since the early 1970s.

The political aims of the space-weapons ban are unmistakeable.

The Liberals have struggled to find Canada-U.S. wedge issues that would force their Conservatives rivals into an uneasy defence of the more unpopular policies of the U.S. Bush administration.

That strategy - which Martin has attempted on climate change, gun control, the Iraq war and on missile defence - has met with limited success during the campaign.

When Martin rebuked his foes for sharing Washington's hostility to the Kyoto climate-change accord, analysts correctly pointed out his own government's woeful record on greenhouse-gas emissions.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has also tempered his enthusiasm for President George W. Bush's Iraq invasion and for the missile project.

It was the same with gun control.

Liberals were hoping that their proposed 'ban' on handguns would draw their chief rival into a National Rifle Association-style defence of the right to bear arms.

Instead Harper responded with his own anti-gun package that includes harsher sentencing, and was careful to avoid criticizing the principle of gun control.
© The Canadian Press 2006

(Via Campaign for Cooperation in Space.)

CANADA: Liberals would seek international ban on weaponization of space: leaked platform

The European Space Preservation Initiative Proactive Strategy:

THE STRATEGY WE ARE IMPLEMENTING WITH THIS INITIATIVE IS COMPOSED OF THREE SEPARATE PATHS, THAT ARE A GUIDANCE RECOMMENDATION TO STATE MEMBERS OF THE EU-EUROPEAN UNION AND OTHER NATIONS IN EUROPE, FOR A FULL PROCESS BAN OF ALL SPACE-BASED WEAPONS; THE CREATION OF AN OUTER SPACE PEACE-KEEPING AGENCY, A NEW GLOBAL SECURITY SYSTEM AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE WEAPONS AND WARFARE ECONOMY & INDUSTRY. CONTEMPLATING UNLIMITED PEACEFUL ALTERNATIVES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL HUMANKIND, WITH A LONG LIST OF NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES THAT WILL RISE WITHIN NEW SPACE MARKETS, UNDER AN EXTENSIVE TRANSNATIONAL PEACEFUL COOPERATION DIRECTLY FOCUSED IN APPLYING EXISTING SOLUTIONS TO THE HUMANITARIAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS.

- Peace Action, under International Law:

- Educational Effort:

- United Nations Space Preservation Treaty-Signing Conference Sponsorship & World Peaceful Applications, New Energy and Sustainable Development Alternatives Forum:

...

CDI: Space Security Update:

Space industry estimated to reach $180 billion

The Space Foundation released the “Space Report: The Guide to Global Space Activity,” which estimates that the space industry now has global revenues of $180 billion. According to the company’s press release, the report divides the space industry into the following categories: “space infrastructure, space products and services, space revenues and government budgets, how space products and services are used, their impact, and the outlook for the future.” The report’s executive summary can be found at http://www.thespacereport.org/executive_summary.pdf

U.S. Opposes Restrictions on Use of Space

25 October 2006

U.S. Opposes Restrictions on Use of Space
Policy acknowledges new technology, importance of space to international commerce

By Cheryl Pellerin
Washington File Staff Writer


Astronaut Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper participates in a spacewalk. (© AP Images)

Washington -- Freedom of action in space is the centerpiece of a new U.S. National Space Policy, the first update in nearly 10 years, that accounts for technology advances and the growing importance of space to international commerce, science, peace and security.

New elements include using space support for homeland security, emphasizing and strengthening interagency partnerships, and renewing the emphasis on the value of mission success in the U.S. government’s space acquisition programs.

U.S. Opposes Restrictions on Use of Space: ""

(Via .)

USINFO.STATE.GOV

CDI Space Security Update #12: Dec. 1, 2006

Space Radar stymied by NRO, Air Force in-fighting • Space industry estimated to reach $180 billion • United States argues against restricting space actions • SBIRS payload tested • GPS satellite cleared for work • Russian military cancels restrictions on satellite navigation system • Indo–Russian space cooperation agreement signed into law • President of India calls for new space data role • China’s satellite ambitions, woes • China’s Compass network • China: first a new ship, then its own space station • Russian general worries about U.S. space-based missile defense.
CDI Publication:

Author(s): Tim Murphy, Victoria Samson.

Bush Space Policy & The Space Preservation Treaty-Signing

TOPIC: THE SPACE PRESERVATION TREATY-SIGNING

THE PROBLEM: Bush Space Policy

U.S. National Space Policy (PDF):
http://www.ostp.gov/html/US%20National%20Space%20Policy.pdf

Space: America's New War Zone
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Published: 19 October 2006
The Independent (UK)

“The Bush administration has staked an aggressive new claim to dominate space - rejecting any new treaties that seek to limit the United States' extraterrestrial activities and warning that it will oppose any nations that try to get in its way.

“A new policy recently signed by President George Bush, asserts that his country has the right to conduct whatever research, development and "other activities" in space that it deems necessary for its own national interests.

“The new policy further warns that the US will take those actions necessary to protect its space capabilities and deny, if necessary, adversaries the use of space capabilities hostile to those interests. The document adds: ‘Space activities have improved life in the United States and around the world, enhancing security, protecting lives and the environment, speeding information flow serving as an engine for economic growth and revolutionizing the way people view their world and the cosmos.’

"’Freedom of action in space is as important to the United States as air power and sea power.’

“In some respects the policy represents the space equivalent of the "Bush Doctrine" national security policy initially outlined by Mr. Bush in a speech at West Point military academy in June 2002. At that event - and later more formally codified – Mr. Bush said the new US policy would place more emphasis on military pre-emption and unilateral actions….”

From, Space: America's New War Zone, op. cit.

THE SOLUTION: Space Preservation Treaty-Signing

The outcome of the Space Preservation Treaty-Signing is a functioning ban of space-based weapons and warfare in space, operating through an independent Outer Space Peacekeeping Agency that will be formed by the leaders and Nations who sign and ratify the Space Preservation Treaty. This will lead to the transformation of the permanent war economy into a sustainable, cooperative, peaceful New Energy-based Space Age society.

The Space Preservation Treaty-Signing urgently enrolls U.N. Member Nations to individually sign and ratify the Space Preservation Treaty, to ban ALL space-based weapons. The Treaty-Signing creates a growing enclave of U.N. Member Nations, national communities, and legal jurisdictions which have signed and ratified the Space Preservation Treaty, and ban ALL space-based weapons, thus outlawing warfare in space and from space under international law and United Nations Charter and rules.

The Space Preservation Treaty-Signing results in a caucus of U.N. Member Nations which have individually or in small groups signed and ratified the Space Preservation Treaty in cumulative numbers which approximate the latest formal of the U.N. General Assembly vote of 166 – 1 (2 abstentions) in favor of preventing the weaponization of space.

ICIS: www.peaceinspace.com

WORLD PEACE FORUM 2006
DOCUMENTARY: WAR FROM SPACE
Eric Herter
58 min 57 sec - 16-Nov-2006
space4peace.org

WATCH ON GOOGLE VIDEO: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6515526620862018423

URL of this article: http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/peaceinspaceorg/2006/11/republic_broadc.html

European Military Space Capabilities: A Primer

CDI Director Theresa Hitchens and Tomas Valasek, former director of the World Security Institute's Brussels office, provide a unique look at Europe's burgeoning military space programs in their latest publication on European security and space policy, “European Military Space Capabilities: A Primer.” Traditionally a region that concentrates on civil and commercial space applications, this comprehensive guide shows how Europe’s collective and national space projects with military capabilities have grown considerably over the years. (May 2006, Center for Defense Information Press, 68 Pages, $25)

Read the introduction by clicking here. (PDF)

To order a copy, please call (202) 332-0600.

Europe's Space Policies and their relevance to the EU's Security and Defence Policy (ESDP)

The following study, written by Rebecca Johnson on behalf of the Acronym Institute and ISIS-Europe (link to ISIS Europe), with research assistance from Stephen Pullinger and Aline Dewaele, was commissioned in 2006 by the European Parliament Directorate-General for External Policies of the Union.

"The study analyses Europe's space programmes and argues for an effective European Space Policy to manage the civil-military interface and national-regional interests to enable Europe to benefit from a more effective coordination of technologies and assets for the purpose of enhancing European and international security, while preventing destabilising developments, such as the testing, deployment or use of anti-satellite weapons or weapons in and from space.

Europe's Space Policies and their relevance to ESDP (PDF), by Rebecca Johnson, published by the EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, Directorate-General for External Policies of the Union, June 19, 2006.

HEADING THE SPACE SECURITY PANEL AT THE E-PARLIAMENT: Brief Summary for the Ideas Database on Space Security:

To be discussed and valorized by the eParliament's Expert and Legislators Panel on Space Security.

Title:

SPT-Space Preservation Treaty - Economy and Security for a New World Cooperative Space Age Industry: How to Transform the Obsolete War Economy into a Prosperous, Sustainable, Peaceful, World Cooperative New Energy & Space Exploration Economy

Summary:

- Stop the escalation of weapons into that place above all our heads before it expands into outer space.

- Initiate a Treaty-Signing Process whereby a growing caucus of Individuals and small groups of Nation State Leaders Sign, Ratify & Promote The Space Preservation Treaty that will ban all space-based weapons and establish the Outer Space Peace-Keeping Agency with technology dedicated to monitor outer space to enforce the ban and to use that same technology to verify agreements on Earth.

- Transform space weapons R&D, testing and manufacturing into expanded, financially prosperous, technologically feasible, and socially responsible, space exploration with new energy spin-offs.

The Idea:

It is through the Space Preservation Treaty that we must, not just ban all space-based weapons, discarding and assuring less threats to our world but; we can begin a world change movement by an extense international cooperation for global peace, global security and global sustainable development. Redirecting the goals of the weapons and warfare economy, transforming the war industry into a new space age economy and industry that will, under international law, apply the diverse existing solutions to our diverse crisis, for the benefit of all Humanity and the protection of the environment; our home planet.

The Prevention of the weaponization of space, and the transformation of the war economy and industry into a space economy and industry will:

§ Free humans in all societies to live, work, and travel peacefully on earth and in space, instead of creating currently planned for imminent deployment of planned and future space-based weapons. We have only one chance in history to ban all space-based weapons.

§ Create a new global economic stimulus package based on the development of a whole new and exciting Space Age marketplace that will be established as humans officially acknowledge that we are evolving from being an earth-bound species that was limited by man-made and geographical boundaries as well as belief systems, into a space-bound species that is based on new knowledge and that has unlimited peace-based possibilities.

§ Create Space Age programs that will produce clean and safe New Energy and other needed technology, with an abundance of new products and services.

Links:

- ICIS: www.peaceinspace.com
- CCIS: www.peaceinspace.org
- NPAE: www.pazenelespacio.org
- How to ban Warfare and Weapons in Space - Create a Space Preservation Treaty Conference:
http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/peaceinspaceorg/2005/08/strategy_campai.html
- More about the Space Preservation Treaty Signing-Conference:
http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/peaceinspaceorg/2006/11/space_preservat.html
- Treaty Comparison Charts:
http://www.peaceinspace.com/sp_chart.shtml
- ACDN France, Space Preservation Treaty-Signing Conference:
http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/peaceinspaceorg/2006/04/acdn_france_spa.html
- Petition Drive on Missile Defense & the Canada Space Preservation Act:
http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/peaceinspaceorg/2004/10/a_hrefhttppeace_6.html
- Canada’s Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew hints at supporting a U.N. Space Preservation Treaty Conference: (English and French)
http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/peaceinspaceorg/2005/08/canadas_foreign.html
- Eisenhower Institute, New Frontiers in Space: http://www.eisenhowerinstitute.org/programs/globalpartnerships/fos/newfrontier/weapons.htm
- WEU Assembly:
http://www.assembly-weu.org/en/documents/sessions_ordinaires/rpt/2006/1932.php?PHPSESSID=44eed6328b83232221ce0856d93e7d47
- H.R. 2420 - Space Preservation Act 2005, US House of Representatives:
http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/peaceinspaceorg/2005/08/us_house_of_rep.html

"Europe does not desire and does not see dominance of space as a goal, neither for itself, nor for any other State Member or Nation"

Ana Maria Gomez, MEP. (Portugal)
Vice-President of the Security and Defense Comite at the European Parliament:

- "Only at the European Union, it is spent more than 5 billion dollars in military and civil space projects".

ESPI: e-Parliament:

Introduction of the Space Preservation Treaty into the discussion Panel of Experts and Legislators on Space Security, create debate on the various and profound implications of the Treaty, desglose the Treaty comparison of other ideas and pieces of legislations homólogous in the concerne of the regulations of the civil & militar activities in space, as projects for international law, under the United Nations; and invite European Leaders in working cooperatively to ban space-based weapons and transform the war economy and industry by signing and presenting ratification instruments to the UN Depositary, the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

¿What is eParliament? (PDF)