When the Chinese military used a ground-launched missile to
shoot down one of its own satellites back in January, the U.S. was very critical. Washington said that such a test violated international treaties. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe responded, "The U.S. believes China's development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of cooperation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area. We and other countries have expressed our concern regarding this action to the Chinese."
Faux News even had an expert on to say that the resulting debris "could interfere with the peaceful orbits of existing satellites" and that the maneuver represented a "military challenge." (Think new arms race.)
But when the U.S. Navy
shot down the "dying" spy satellite that was due to crash to Earth next month, it was heralded as a success. We were given assurances that the satellite's toxic fuel tank was destroyed in the blast and that the rest of the debris would burn up in the atmosphere.
Naturally, it was claimed that the only motivation for this exercise was to protect human life. In reality, everyone knows that it was a not-so-subtle attempt to show the Chinese and the rest of the world that the U.S. is still a superpower.
Yeah, we're all really impressed. By the way, how much did this little fireworks display end up costing the U.S. taxpayers?
Labels: Military
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