Russia Warns Against Deploying Weapons In Space

RIA Novosti, the Russian News agency, related some comments from the higher-ups in the Great Frozen East yesterday. Apparently, they don't want you putting weapons in space.

This is an interesting move; the chief of Russia's space forces has promised "retaliatory weapons" and said "A sizeable war could break out." But he is not presuming to claim space, rather he is warning against escalating an arms race in space. Col. Gen. Vladimir Popovkin is concerned that countries warring in space could misinterpret technical satellite failures as acts of war and retaliate.

The US has asserted their right to palce weapons and weapons platforms as recently as last year. President Bush's statement in 2006 went so far as to oppose the development of treaties restricting weapons in space.

Given such a rare opportunity, I have to express my unqualified support for ole GW on this one. Like the rifle, the tank, and the airplane before it, the space-based weapons platform is the wave of the future. Plus, the sooner we get moving on this, the closer I am to getting one of these: