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Uniqueness – No Space Weaponization Now



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Uniqueness – No Space Weaponization Now


[____]

[____] Obama’s new space policy stresses cooperation and renounces space weapons.
William Broad and Kenneth Chang, Writer for the New York Times, 6/29/2010, “ Obama Reverses Bush’s Space Policy”, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/science/space/29orbit.html
The Obama administration on Monday unveiled a space policy that renounces the unilateral stance of the Bush administration and instead emphasizes international cooperation, including the possibility of an arms control treaty that would limit the development of space weapons. In recent years, both China and the United States have destroyed satellites in orbit, raising fears about the start of a costly arms race that might ultimately hurt the United States because it dominates the military use of space. China smashed a satellite in January 2007, and the United States did so in February 2008. The new space policy explicitly says that Washington will “consider proposals and concepts for arms control measures if they are equitable, effectively verifiable and enhance the national security of the United States and its allies.” The Bush administration, in the space policy it released in August 2006, said it “rejects any limitations on the fundamental right of the United States to operate in and acquire data from space,” a phrase that was interpreted as giving a green light to the development and use of antisatellite weapons. The policy also stated that Washington would “oppose the development of new legal regimes or other restrictions that seek to prohibit or limit U.S. access or use of space,” a phrase that effectively ruled out arms control. In secret, the Bush administration engaged in research that critics said could produce a powerful ground-based laser, among other potential weapons meant to shatter enemy satellites in orbit. By contrast, the Obama policy underlines the need for international cooperation. “It is the shared interest of all nations to act responsibly in space to help prevent mishaps, misperceptions and mistrust,” the new policy says in its opening lines. “Space operations should be conducted in ways that emphasize openness and transparency.”


[____] Space has not been overtly weaponized yet.
M. V. Smith, USAL Colonel and PhD student of strategic studies in the Politics and International Relations Department at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, 2011, “Spacepower and Warfare,” 2011, http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA536586

 

A discussion of the nexus of spacepower and warfare is controversial because space has yet to be overtly weaponized or generally recognized as an arena of open combat. Many, if not most, nations want to keep space a weapons-free peaceful sanctuary, particularly the suprastate actors. Just because all other media are weaponized and used as arenas of combat does not mean that space will automatically follow suit. Perhaps this generation will figure out how to keep the beast of war in chains short enough to prevent it from going to space. But the next (and each succeeding) generation must also keep the chains short. Unfortunately, the constant march of technology is making space more important to states at the same time it is making it easier to build space weapons. In anticipating the future of spacepower for theoretical discussion, we can do little more than extract a roadmap from the history of human activity and extrapolate forward.



AT: Space Weaponization Inevitable




[____]

[____] Countries are more interested in economic exploitation of space. This proves that space militarization is not inevitable.
Nina Tannenwald, Joukowsky Family Research Assistant Professor and Director of the International Relations Program, Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, Summer 2004, 29 Yale J. Int'l L. 363
[*385] Added to this are the large majority of the world's nations that are primarily interested in the economic benefits of space. Access to communications and other benefits of space are of special interest to developing nations, which want to bridge the "information gap" between the industrial nations and emerging economies. Most nations would like guarantees that space will not be used against them, and have supported strengthening the legal regime in space to constrain weaponization. This group includes key spacefaring nations. China's views have been noted, and Russia has also called strongly for an international treaty prohibiting weapons in space. In September 2001, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov outlined several key provisions for any new treaty on space security: no placing of weapons in orbit; no use or threat to use weapons against targets in space; and the establishment of adequate verification mechanisms. n117 The Russian delegate to the CD reiterated this position in January 2002, calling for a moratorium on placing weapons in space until a treaty could be achieved. n118

In late June 2002, Russia and China submitted a first-ever joint proposal to the CD for an international treaty to ban space weapons - clearly a response to the U.S. withdrawal from the ABM Treaty several weeks earlier. n119 Although there was little new in the substance of the proposal, the fact that it dropped many self-serving provisions and focused on a few simple points that would have broad international appeal suggests that it was a serious effort. Additionally, the fact that it was a joint proposal suggests that, as critics of missile defenses have predicted, U.S. pursuit of missile defenses is driving Russia and China together, an adverse outcome for the United States. Canada, Egypt, France, Sri Lanka, and other members of the CD have also offered proposals to begin negotiations on the nonweaponization of space. n120 As David Ziegler notes, "any assertion that the United States should aggressively pursue weaponization in order to beat adversaries already rushing in that direction is highly questionable."



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