Nuclear Propulsion Neg

Space Race ! – Uq

On June 17, immediately after the historical ninth heads of state summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Yekaterinburg, Russia on the preceding two days, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao announced that their nations were drafting a joint treaty to ban the deployment of weapons in outer space to be presented to the United Nations General Assembly. A statement by the presidents reflected a common purpose to avoid the militarization of space and said: "Russia and China advocate peaceful uses of outer space and oppose the prospect of it being turned into a new area for deploying weapons. "The sides will actively facilitate practical work on a draft treaty on the prevention of the deployment of weapons in outer space, and of the use of force or threats to use force against space facilities, and will continue an intensive coordination of efforts to guarantee the security of activities in outer space." [1] The statement also addressed the question of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its global expansion as well as an integrally related danger, the US-led drive to development a worldwide - and more than worldwide - interceptor missile system aimed at neutralizing China's and Russia's deterrent and retaliation capacities in the event of a first strike attack on either or both. The section of the joint communiqué addressing the above stated, "Russia and China regard international security as integral and comprehensive. The security of some states cannot be ensured at the expense of others, including the expansion of military-political alliances or the creation of global or regional missile defense systems." [2]

A Russian analytical news site reported at the same time that the danger of space war was potentially catastrophic and was being pursued without regard to its consequences:"[T]he true reason behind the American plans for global anti-ballistic missile defense and space militarization [is that the] United States believes that over the next two to three decades, it can beat the others (Russia and China) in these spheres and gain a decisive strategic military advantage. "A frightening Cold-War-type arms race to counter the U.S. missile defense systems and militarization of space is about to take off in earnest....This arms race is perhaps as dangerous as the Cold War one. This time, however, the trigger is in the hands of only one party – the U.S. establishment. "Unfortunately, the signs are that the United States is already pulling the trigger." [31] The above echoed comparable concerns voiced by Chinese military experts three months before. In a book published by the government's China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, two armed forces experts stated that “Strategic confrontation in outer space is difficult to avoid. The development of outer space forces shows signs that a space arms race to seize the commanding heights is emerging. "Dominated by the idea of absolute domination of outer space, a major power is making a big fuss about space domination, creating rivals and provoking confrontation.” [32] In a stark warning last October, veteran Russian journalist Valentin Zorin said that "The new arms race will be incomplete without plans for the weaponization of outer space" and "U.S. attempts to turn outer space into a third field of combat operations may prove as dangerous as the American decision to use a nuclear device on August, 1945." [33] Remarking on the fact that in the United Nations General Assembly 166 nations had voted for the Russian and Chinese proposal to ban the militarization of space a week earlier, Russian analyst Alexei Arbatov was quoted as saying last winter that "Washington does plan to deploy its ABM system elements in near-Earth orbits, and it is only Russia that can counter such plans." [34] Late last November Russian ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, again urged "UN member-states to join the moratorium on the deployment of weapons in outer space" and "mentioned that it is on Russia’s initiative that the UN General Assembly has been adopting resolutions, for many years now, aimed at the prevention of the arms race in space. The only one who objected to the adoption of this resolution was the United States...." [35]