Space set to become war zone, warns US general

The question isnt if this will happen in the future, the question really is, is it already happening now?

Since they are talking about it publicly, does that mean an expansion of any orbital conflicts may be in the works that would be obvious to the public?

Space may become a war zone in the not-too-distant future, a senior US military officer said today, hours after China became only the third country after the US and the former Soviet Union to put a man in space.

"In my view it will not be long before space becomes a battleground," Lieutenant General Edward Anderson, deputy commander of US Northern Command, said in response to a question at a geospatial intelligence conference in New Orleans.

"Our military forces ... depend very, very heavily on space capabilities, and so that is a statement of the obvious to our potential threat, whoever that may be," he said.

www.smh.com.au...

"The general who is skilled in defense hides in the most secret recesses of the earth (underground bunkers and complexes); he who is skilled in attack flashes forth from the topmost heights of heaven (attack from space). Thus on the one hand we have ability to protect ourselves; on the other, a victory that is complete."

Sun Tzu "The Art of War"



China doesn't need to be expansionist -- they just want the modern version of the Great Wall when the next 'cold war' begins. This is a country that will become an economic powerhouse in our lifetime with the resources to close its doors to the rest of the world if it desires to do so. Given some time and the fall of the dollar to the euro, China will simply grow into its distant, former role of an Asian empire. If it chooses to do business exclusively with the European consortium, it could shoulder the US out of the way quite handily to take hold as the next, greatest superpower.

Gaining a foothold in space will assure the Chinese of at least a defensive position in the era of modern warfare and, at most, a crutial offensive capability that is currently enjoyed by only a few. Those of you who discount the significance of China's entry into this small club can not hope to understand the future ramifications to the United States' historical position of dealing from a strength in this frontier. Russia has been in orbit since May of '59 and we all know how the '60s, '70's and '80s went between them and the US -- that's not to say that China will take a similar tack with the United States, but the ability and the economic clout will be there if they so choose. The main reason Russia quit the 'cold war' was due to the fact that they couldn't keep pace economically with the US -- we outspent them across the board in offensive and defensive adjustments ... China may well eventually be in a position to do exactly the same thing to the United States. We'll see how it goes.

The sky isn't falling, it just has more eyes in it now.

from the ancient masters of war...
if war is what america is attemting to accomplish against the chinese they are both barking up the wrong trees...
yet on another side to this coin i see no reason why china should be percieved as a threat globally china has maintained its composure and not acted in ways that one would outright judge and un-right...
china because it is not european is the real threat to america for it fears it may loose out on some steak/stake, but as we have come to realize over histories course is that these polar sides balance each other out, hopefully (eventhough it will come to pass) no lives are taken unnecessarily for such said balancing acts...