The Spaceman Cometh: Corporate Rule and Control
By Bruce Gagnon, Coordinator, Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power
in Space
Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) is leading the effort to create a separate "Space
Force" within the military that would be fully charged with achieving U.S.
"domination" of the heavens. He believes that the elementary
technologies of the Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system are just a beginning.
In a recent speech to aerospace corporation leaders he reminded them that he
would continue to push for expansion of weapons programs for space like the
military space plane, anti-satellite weapons and space-based lasers.
According to Senator Smith: "With the technology that we have already
developed and demonstrated, we have the opportunity today to move forward to the
comprehensive missile defense architecture that President Reagan envisioned
almost 20 years ago, more than the marginal defense this Administration has been
struggling with for the past few months. We need to incorporate
forward-deployed capabilities like the Navy Theater Wide program and the Air
Force Airborne Laser and space-based missile-defense programs to ensure we can
stop missiles in their boost phase, dropping the debris fallout over our
adversary's homes, not ours. We also need to incorporate space sensors and
integrate everything together with our theater defense systems to form a
comprehensive architecture to defend this nation and our deployed troops."
Theatre Missile Defense (TMD) is designed to deploy weapons into regions like
the Middle East or near China. Proponents claim that TMD would be used to
checkmate North Korea, but the system is really intended to force China to
up-grade its existing nuclear capability of 20 long-range missiles or be held
hostage to a U.S. first-strike capability. A Chinese foreign ministry
spokesman has stated that, "The U.S. is a huge superpower and you're afraid
of little North Korea? Is it convincing? What is more plausible is
that American strategic thinkers have China in mind. So this TMD could be
even more dangerous for Russia and China than the National Missile Defense (NMD)."
China, with its newly awarded pass into the global "free trade club,"
is still very much an independent actor. The global economic and military
elite still must find a way to rope China into the corral like they have
successfully done with Russia whose economic troubles keep it in check and whose
territory is now virtually surrounded by NATO. For the U.S., the worst
possible scenario is for China to become a global economic power outside the
control of the American empire. No chances can be taken with such a
potentially large threat to U.S. global rule. This explains the need for
an expansion of U.S. space control and domination at this historic moment.
If the Korean and Vietnamese wars taught the Pentagon anything it is that long,
drawn out ground battles in Asia will not fly with the American people. A
new strategy must be put in place. Similarly, with China developing a
small but capable nuclear deterrent of its own, the U.S. can hardly use the
nuclear blackmail card effectively with the Chinese. That leaves just one
thing - space. As Senator Smith says, "Space is absolutely critical
to future war fighting! This increasing importance was demonstrated in the Gulf
War and in the Balkans. I firmly believe that whoever controls space will
win the next war." And if the next conflict needs to be over China because
they are not complying with U.S. corporate dictates, then a healthy space
control system will need to be in place. A system that will force China to
knuckle under to U.S. corporate demands is what Senator Smith is talking about.
It is increasingly clear that as millions of people worldwide
become "superfluous popula-tions" because of mechanization, robotics
and computerization, the ruling corporate elite does not intend to make
concessions to them when they create "regional" instability - as the
Space Command calls it. They will either go along with the program or pay
the price. And if that means conflict with China or Russia, so be it.
Senator Smith is called "Spaceman Smith" because of his strong support
for the weaponization of space. As a good friend to the aerospace
industry, he fights hard to get what the Pentagon needs to make space control
and domination a reality. To make "Manifest Destiny" work in the
coming century, Smith knows that a new military strategy must be developed and
space will be the centerpiece of that plan. For corporate globilization to
work there must be a global military instrument in place. Public debate,
pressure on the White House and Congress, and visible protest activity in the
streets around the world will be an antedote to the new "Manifest
Destiny."
Instead of more global corporate domination, the world needs more economic and
political democracy.
Source: June 6, 2000. <www. globenet.free-online.co.uk/articles/spaceman.htm>
For more information, contact: Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power
in Space, P.O. Box 90083 Gainesville, FL 32607 USA. Tel.: (352) 337-9274;
Email: <globalnet@mindspring.com>