Nukes in Space?
I don’t have a lot of time to write this morning, but I didn’t want to leave you hanging. So here’s a quick story for you to think about over your second cup of coffee today.
Last week rumors started circulating that the Russians are planning to put nuclear weapons in space – most likely an anti-satellite nuclear weapon whose detonation could disrupt everything from military communications to your GPS and games you play on your cell phone. This would violate the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which bars signatories – including Russia and the United States – from placing in orbit around the earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction. Both the United States and Russia identify an attack on its satellites as equivalent to an attack on their homeland, triggering a full-out response.
Putin has denied that Russia is doing anything along these lines, so we should all rest easy tonight.
In case this has not alleviated your concerns, here’s a bit more about this topic. Russian officials went on to speculate that the Biden administration is making all of this up in order to scare U.S. lawmakers into allocating more funds for Ukraine as part of Washington’s plan to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.
Beyond the obvious, what would nukes in space mean? They could cause all kinds of mischief around the world by destroying American (or other nations’) satellites, but a conventional warhead in space could do the job without violating treaty obligations.
Here’s a brief (25-minute) bonus episode of Pod Save the World which focuses solely on the issue of nukes in space.