Who's in Charge Here, Anyway?
I'm completly confused by this relatively new two-tier world that America seems hell bent to enforce. We can have nuclear weapons but Iran cannot. We can violate the NPT but Iran cannot. Israel and India can, but North Korea is a "rogue state" if they do. We tested an anti-satellite missile twenty years ago, but China must not be allowed to do so now. For the life of me, I don't understand how our government thinks that they can do litterally anything if they deem it to be in our national interest, but other nations will not be allowed pursue intiatives they deem to be in their interests. Unless they are nations we approve of.All the hollering about nuclear R&D programs have shown up this blatent hypocricy over the last couple years, but the Chinese test of an anti-satellite missile has truly clarified the situation. Now look. The militarization of space is a bad thing. Space, if you will, has a "special relationship" to the surface of the planet. It is the ultimate "high ground" from which a small nation might exert undue dominance on all the others. But it is undeniable that the US has been leading the charge to the militarization of space, over the repeated concerns of the rest of the world. A few years ago the world came together to ban the development, testing and deployment of space-based weapons, and to make space equally available to all. 160 nations voted for the treaty. Only the US refused, and has continued to develop a number of space weapons. And this is odd, for the United States has a great deal more assets at risk from anti-satellite weapons. The simple, obvious answer is to support banning these types of weapons - it is in America's interest much more than a new arms race.
But think about it. With America not only making bellicose statements and rattling sabers, but actually invading sovereign nations without compunction, what is the responsible course for the leadership of China? Should they sit passively, trusting that the US will act benignly towards them? I wouldn't. As long as the US proclaims itself to be China's adversary, the Chinese leadership has no choice but to continue to develop a credible deterrent. With our government, that seems to be the only voice they listen to.
posted by mikey @ 9:39 AM
1 Comments:
I'm reading Noam Chomsky's 'Failed States', and he makes some excellent points about this very thing. America is, of course, always only interested in itself and its hegemony. This has been true a long time. It's just uglier and totally up front now. The neoliberals in the Clinton foreign policy organization were like Don Vito Corleone, using sweet reason with a very big stick. The Bush administration is more like the Barrow or Barker Gangs of the Great Depression era, going in blazing away, who cares who gets killed, we don't need no stinkin' diplomacy.
We're in real trouble, not just as a country, but as a planet, with disaster looming, quite likely in the not too distant future.
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