There is another strategic aspect to this American "weaponization of the heavens." That is, to force Russia and China into an arms race which Washington calculates would be economically ruinous for Moscow and Beijing. What's at stake here is a pivotal struggle between Russia and China's vision of a multi-polar world and Washington's desire to be the globe's hegemonic uni-power. If the US can break Russia and China economically then it wins this era-defining struggle. Launching an arms race is Washington's gambit for taking down Russia and China.
The precedent is the arms race in the 1980s under Reagan which brought the Soviet Union to collapse. Because of Washington's presumed right to print endless amounts of dollars and rack up seemingly limitless national debt, the US is waging that it will be the last man standing in an arms race with Russia and China.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that Russia will not fall into the trap of unleashing an arms race. At a recent meeting in Sochi with his top defense officials, Putin emphasized the imperative need to focus on efficiency in weapon systems. Russia's latest-generation of hypersonic missiles which apparently can evade any US defense shield despite the latter costing trillions of dollars to develop is one example.
Nevertheless, if -- and it is a big if -- the US manages to develop space weaponry, the pressure will be on Russia and China to respond in kind to counter a whole new threat level. That would mean both nations diverting resources into another realm of weaponry instead of developing their economies.
The US Space Force has to be seen in the wider context of Washington unraveling the entire system of global arms controls. The US withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty in 2002 was followed by its withdrawal from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty last year. The Trump administration is moving towards scrapping New START in 2021, the third and last nuclear-arms control treaty.
There is an unconscionable effort by US governments over many years to incite a new arms race. Going into outer space is part of that effort. It is a gross violation of international law and the United Nations by the US to open up a new frontier for military dominance. And the US has utilized the 29-nation NATO alliance to rubber-stamp its criminal weaponization of space.
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