Russia, China Propose Space Arms Treaty

No surprise here, but it’s still worth watching: At a disarmament conference in Geneva today, Russian and Chinese diplomats proposed a new draft treaty that would ban the deployment of space-based weapons.

The two countries have been pushing for talks on this issue since the beginning of the decade, largely against resistance from the United States. Which is a shame.

Sure, it’s true that the United States has a technological lead that could allow it to dominate this field for some time. Our potential rivals want to mute this lead. But what if this isn't such a bad idea after all?

Put aside the fact that a significant number of scientists and policy experts say space-based weapons areinherently vulnerable to attack, and thus provide little or no real military superiority. Weaponizing space – as some military officials have pressed for since the beginning of the decade – will almost certainly cause an arms race in space.

Indeed, the test of the Chinese satellite-killing missile in early 2007
is already proof positive of that. That test set off a fresh round of concern in military offices around the world, prompting air force officials even in South Korea to talk about the need of developing space-based weapons.

United States officials, in repeated policy speeches and in their 2006 National Space Policy, have argued that the country should not let its hands be tied by international agreements such as this proposed treaty. But if the gains from a temporary superiority lead simply to another expensive, destabilizing arms race, this time in space, well, that doesn’t seem like such a good deal to me.

Here’s Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, as quoted by the BBC:

"Weapons deployment in space by one state will inevitably result in a chain reaction," he said. "This, in turn, is fraught with a new spiral in the arms race both in space and on Earth."

The Russian foreign minister also warned the US against complacency over its technological lead, making a comparison with the nuclear arms race after World War II.

China and Russia aren't the United States' best friends on this issue.
But that’s no reason to reflexively ignore what they propose -- that's a sign of weakness, not of strength.

Russia proposes space arms treaty [BBC]

(Image: A photo of the old video-game standby Missile Command which would probably be a little easier to manage than a true space war. Credit: Booyaa, via
Flickr)