
Obama signs defence bill calling for space-based missile systems - miraj
http://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2057047/star-wars-ii-obama-signs-defence-bill-calling-space
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ScottBurson
_Franks, asked whether the country could afford it, replied: “What is national
security worth? It’s priceless.”_

So let's see, Congressman Franks, if you really believe that security is
priceless. Do you wear a Kevlar vest at all times? Ride only in an armored
Maybach? Keep a dozen bodyguards at your home? Line the walls of your house
with depleted uranium? Scan every object entering your house with a T-wave
explosives detector and a Geiger counter?

Of course not. Security is not "priceless"; it is subject to cost/benefit
analysis like everything else. I can do no better at this point than to quote
President Dwight Eisenhower:

 _Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired
signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed,
those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending
money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its
scientists, the hopes of its children._ [0]

 _In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of
unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial
complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and
will persist._ [1]

I think it's a safe bet that the big defense contractors like Lockheed Martin
have been lobbying for a resumption of Star Wars ever since the Reagan years.
Looks like they finally found a moment when we were all thinking about other
things.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chance_for_Peace_speech](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chance_for_Peace_speech)

[1] [http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/ike.htm](http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/ike.htm)

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pmoriarty
_" Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired
signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed,
those who are cold and are not clothed."_

When was the last time an American Presidential candidate ran on feeding the
hungry and clothing the cold? Such sentiments are more likely to be derided
these days as "socialist".

~~~
ScottBurson
Well, there was Bernie :-)

~~~
djsumdog
Bernie was very pro war. He wouldn't have gotten as far in the primaries if he
hadn't been. He talked about arming the Jordanians and adding to the conflict,
not stopping it:

[http://fightthefuture.org/articles/sanders-and-hillary-
the-c...](http://fightthefuture.org/articles/sanders-and-hillary-the-
continuation-of-the-american-dynasty/)

If he had been elected, he'd be a puppet

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varjag
An interesting move. One that incoming Trump administration would find
politically hard to neuter, and which is likely aimed to deteriorate Russian
defence first and foremost.

Russia is not economically and technologically positioned to meet the
challenge, but would unavoidably have to try anyway.

Could be the "appropriate answer" to the hacking Obama hinted before.

~~~
agumonkey
With their recent plane accident it seems that they indeed have technological
quality problems to address already. I don't really hate the Russian
government, and I'm not fond of other ones, but large countries in a pride
escalation around military always worry me.

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hamburglar1
Why would a nation like Russia or the US give in to total nuclear disarmament
without a missle shield like this? A nuke free future is impossible without a
shield like this available to all. All countries serious about disarment
should be jointly contributing to this effort.

~~~
JshWright
Advances in offensive capabilities are spurred by advanced in defensive
capabilities, and vice versa (going back to the time when the 'offensive'
weapons were rocks and sticks, and the 'defensive' options were woven plant
material).

The response to this sort of system is not "Oh, well, guess we can pack up the
nukes now", it's "We need to invest in a nuclear delivery system that is
capable of defeating this system", and the cycle starts all over again.

~~~
chakalakasp
"Dang, they've developed an 'antivirus' program. Pack it up boys, viruses are
obsolete now!"

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FreedomToCreate
In such a globalized world, where economics are so linked that many countries,
including the US, couldn't survive without the others, this type of stuff just
sends society backwards. Not like we don't have enough guns pointed at the
world, why not spend an exorbitant amount of money to point an even bigger
one. You may be able to get someone to listen to you by pointing a gun at
them, but never their respect.

~~~
motoboi
I think you would find very disturbing that 1900's people used just the same
argument to "prove" that world war I wasn't possible and would never happen.

~~~
euyyn
I don't think WWI is a case of "if only we had armed ourselves more and more,
we could have stopped it sooner."

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JumpCrisscross
> _Leading defence scientists said the idea that a space-based system could
> provide security against nuclear attack is a fantasy_

Does someone have more detail on this?

~~~
motoboi
Space is too large, distances are too great. There is no suitable laser right
now. Besides that, if you are garanteed to neutralize your enemy's arsenal,
you force him to attack first while he can avoid his own total destruction.

~~~
JumpCrisscross
> _There is no suitable laser right now_

This is a fine argument against _this_ concept. But the article frames the
scientists as saying it's not just unfeasible now but generally impossible.
That's what I'm struggling with.

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option
latest from the nobel peace prize winner...

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kiba
Obama didn't ask for a nobel peace prize, AFAIK.

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cmdrfred
Jean-Paul Sartre, and Le Duc Tho declined the Nobel, Obama could as well if he
did not believe in the purpose of the peace prize.

I have 7 words for anyone who wishes to down vote: Afghanistan, Iraq,
Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Syria

~~~
photogrammetry
Sartre was an independent, free spirited academic. Le Duc Tho was a
revolutionary. Obama is a career politician who was just elected president.
Why do you think he would or should have turned it down?

~~~
vinay427
I agree that he had no obligation to turn it down, but I really don't follow
your argument as to why Sartre or Le Did Tho did. Can you elaborate?

~~~
photogrammetry
They did so mostly because they considered themselves
academically/intellectually above the Nobel Prize and prizes in general. I'm
not a mind reader.

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pmoriarty
What happened to no militarization of space?

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brian-armstrong
Just a bit of a spoiler -- It doesn't get really good until IV ;)

