Militarizing Space -- Oblivious to Malevolent Internal Threat

"[The new American 'Golden Dome' defence system will] deploy next generation technologies across the land, sea and space, including space-based sensors and interceptors."

[The Trump administration is prepared to work with Canada on] pricing [and] they'll pay their fair share."

"We are dealing with them on pricing. They know about it very much."

U.S. President Donald Trump 

 

"[Canadians gave Prime Minister Mark Carney] a strong mandate to negotiate a comprehensive new security and economic relationship with the United States." 

"To that end, the prime minister and his ministers are having wide-ranging and constructive discussions with their American counterparts."

"These discussions naturally include strengthening NORAD and related initiatives such as the Golden Dome."

Prime Minister's Office 

President Donald Trump says Canada has asked to join the U.S. missile defence program. (Nathan Howard/Reuters)

 

The new missile defence system that the U.S President has announced to the world is touted to have far more advanced technology than anything in its class heretofore, including the ability to ward off missiles and even threats from outer space. The multilayered system has been costed at US$175 billion, according to the president, to be completed within his term, ending in 2029. The system, the president emphasized, will have the capability of intercepting missiles launched from the other side of the globe, or even from space.

 

The 'Golden Dome' has been in the works since President Trump's first administration, when critics panned it as too expensive, and too complicated to deploy over such a large land mass. Based on Israel's "Iron Dome" defence network, the American updated version is on the cusp of operability. Mr. Trump's cost claims aside, the Congressional Budget Office estimates just the space-based components alone could cost up to US$542 billion over 20 years. 

For years the Pentagon issued warnings of the newest missiles developed both by China and Russia, to be sufficiently advanced to require updated countermeasures. Satellites and interceptors, where the bulk of the program's cost lie for the Golden Dome, are to be focused on stopping those very same advanced missiles early, or in the midst of their flight. Golden Dome's space-based weaponry "represent new and emerging requirements for missions that have never before been accomplished by military space organizations", stated head of the U.S. Space Force, General Chance Saltzman.

 

Offensive Chinese and Russian satellites with the capacity to disable critical U.S. satellites have the potential to make the United States vulnerable to attack. It was revealed through the United States last year that Russia was developing a space-based nuclear weapon able to loiter in space for long periods, then be triggered to release a burst to destroy satellites in proximity. Trump mentioned he had not yet discussed the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin "but at the right time, we will".

 

Posters for the proposed Golden Dome for America missile defense shield are displayed before an event with President Donald Trump in the Roosevelt Room at the White House. Photo by MARK SCHIEFELBEIN /AP

 

A joint statement by Russia and China issued earlier in the month spoke of the Golden Dome as "deeply destabilizing in nature", with the warning it would transform "outer space into an environment for placing weapons and an arena for armed confrontation". 

 

President Trump's repeated complaints of the U.S. protecting Canada, and his calls for more Arctic security to push back on an increase in Russian and Chinese presence in the region, have led to the new Canadian administration becoming more attentive to the situation. According to some experts Mr. Trump's musing threats of annexation of Greenland and Canada could be rooted in part in concerns over the Arctic.

 

What if, just what if the threats seen to be posed by Russia and China toward North America are for the most part rooted in trade advantages and a challenge to a unipower represented by the United States dominating world affairs? As opposed to the equally imminent and possibly in the long view more dangerous threat constituted by the ongoing infiltration through immigration, migrant and refugee intake sweeping the West from Europe to North America, Asia and Africa by Islamist jihadists whose numbers are overwhelming and whose dedication to conquest is unquenchable?

 

Experts say U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed Golden Dome missile defence system could take decades to build and cost hundreds of billions of dollars. (Alex Brandon/The Associated Press)