Bill Nelson’s Dangerous China Dream in SpaceThe Biden Administration’s NASA director fundamentally and willfully misunderstands China’s threat to the United States.
By Brandon J. Weichert
February 28, 2022
“Things don’t go swimmingly on [Earth] . . . but in space they do.” That is how the Biden Administration’s NASA director, Bill Nelson, framed his great dream of seeing the United States cooperate with Communist China in space. Incredibly, despite insisting that he fully understands the threat China poses to America’s hard-won position in space, Nelson has continued chirping in public his tired refrain about wishing for China and the United States to cooperate in space.
When asked for a greater explanation about this strange yearning, Nelson spoke of the previous era of Soviet, and then Russian and American, cooperation in space. Yet, the Russians only ever cooperated in space after the Americans had decisively beaten them in the race to the moon. Moscow maintained its close ties with Washington in space after Russia was hobbled by the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union. And even then, the cooperation between the two Cold War rivals was limited and would not have averted conflict between the USSR and United States had an actual war erupted between the two superpowers.
Nelson’s vision of a united Sino-American mission in space is misguided, but he can’t help himself. Nelson belongs to the utopian school of space policy experts who believe that if only America would refuse to actively defend, preserve, and even enhance its dominance in space then it will somehow inspire all countries to seek greater cooperation with Washington in space development (and in other areas).
It’s the kind of vision that Gene Roddenberry had for the original “Star Trek.” Sadly, that vision does not comport with the way the world really works. Space, like the land, sea, air, and cyberspace, is just another strategic domain in which humanity will compete for dominance. Pretending like it can be something else is a fantasy that only American elites, such as Bill Nelson, could ever truly believe.
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Source:
https://amgreatness.com/2022/02/28/bill-nelsons-dangerous-china-dream-in-space/
