Afraid of the Sky

Dear Leader just can't get any respect these days. Even Pootie-Pute is telling him the truth:

NEW DELHI (AP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday criticized U.S. plans for space-based weapons, saying it was the reason behind a recent Chinese anti-satellite weapons test.

Asked about the Chinese test at a news conference in New Delhi after a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Putin avoided directly criticizing the Chinese, saying only that Russia was against putting any weapons in space.

Instead Putin chose to issue a warning to the U.S. on the dangers of the militarization of space.

“At the same time, I would like to note that China was not the first country to conduct such a test,'' Putin said.

The Jan. 11 test, first reported last week by the magazine Aviation Week, destroyed a defunct Chinese weather satellite by hitting it with a warhead launched on board a ballistic missile.

“The first such test was conducted back in the late 1980s and we also hear it today about the U.S. military circles considering plans of militarization of space. We must not let the genie out of the bottle,'' Putin said.

U.S. President George W. Bush signed an order in October tacitly asserting the U.S. right to space weapons and opposing the development of treaties or other measures restricting them.

Bush has also pushed an ambitious program of space-based missile defense and the Pentagon is working on missiles, ground lasers and other technology to shoot down satellites...

Of course, Dear Leader has his own Battlestar Galactica of space weapons planned. A good recent official lowdown can be found, as usual, at Defense Tech. But these are communications systems, important for intelligence and integration. The real space weapons, UAVs, the space fighters, the rods from god, the anti satellites, the lasers, and the microwave weapons that can be used optimally in space, aren't discussed. You can find out more about them by searching Defense Tech, or this site, if you're interested.

But more on the Chinese situation: basically, Beijing says, it was none of our business.

PARIS — The Chinese government confirmed Jan. 23 that it had sent a missile to destroy one of its own satellites but insisted the test should not be viewed as a hostile act.

In a press briefing in Beijing, Liu Jianchao, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, reiterated that China "has never participated and will never participate in any arms race in outer space," Liu said, according to excerpts of his remarks provided by China's Xinhua News Agency. "This test was not directed at any country and does not pose a threat to any country."

Liu also said China had informed the United States and Japan of the anti-satellite test after the fact.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Jan 22 that the Chinese Foreign Ministry had discussed the anti-satellite test in Beijing with Christopher R. Hill, assistant State Department secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs, who is on a previously scheduled trip in East Asia...

...The U.S. Air Force has conducted similar anti-satellite tests in the past, but deputy U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey on Jan. 19 said U.S. policy has changed since the last U.S. anti-satellite demonstration in 1985...

Pefectly clear to me. The Pentagon's clutching its pearls because China can do what it could 20 years ago. Somewhere Dick Cheney huddles in his bunker afraid of the sky, because he knows despite his treasure trove of horror weapons America can't save its own cities like it could 20 years ago much less intimidate China.