Story: "China has secretly fired powerful laser weapons designed to disable American spy satellites by "blinding" their sensitive surveillance devices, it was reported yesterday.
...
The document said that China could blind American satellites with a ground-based laser firing a beam of light to prevent spy photography as they pass over China.
According to senior American officials: "China not only has the capability, but has exercised it." American satellites like the giant Keyhole craft have come under attack "several times" in recent years.
Although the Chinese tests do not aim to destroy American satellites, the laser attacks could make them useless over Chinese territory.
The American military has been so alarmed by the Chinese activity that it has begun test attacks against its own satellites to determine the severity of the threat.
Satellites are especially vulnerable to attack because they have predetermined orbits, allowing an enemy to know where they will appear.
"The Chinese are very strategically minded and are extremely active in this arena. They really believe all the stuff written in the 1980s about the high frontier," said one senior former Pentagon official."
China... You steal our planes, and shoot at our satilites. And yet, trading with them is still in our best interest, because we save a lot of money.
Weird.
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Just as a note, if I knew there were Chinese satalites spying on me I would be trying to find a way to "blind" them.
On a nonpolitical note, this is a really cool application of technology. For about six months I've been toying with a similar idea that would use IR to "blind" cameras. I wouldn't use it for criminal purposes of course. It was just one of the many crazy ideas I've had.
I wonder if a rail-gun launched EMP bomb could permanently knock satellites offline....
China has been stealing America's secrets and technology for years, either through espionage or corruption (a.k.a., Bill Clinton). I've always had this funny feeling that it wasn't so that they could help us.
I was reading in "Popular Mechanics" just the other day that "China watched in dismay at how easily America defeated Iraq in the first Gulf War." Since then, the Chinese government has been obsessed with acquiring technology so that they can compete with the U.S. militaristically. Someone in the article said that what we're seeing in China "is the biggest military build-up since the Cold War." Boy, they sure sound like they're innocently minding their own business, don't they?
I agree with your assessment on trading with China, Palm Boy, especially since the lowly citizens make pennies on the dollar (if that much). In other words, just like in the countries we are buying oil from, we are funding China's military--funding our enemy.
Free trade with China and other countries has always been a good thing--AS LONG AS the countries had the common sense not to mess with the U.S.. However, it seems that that sentiment (of knowing you're superior--or at least your match--when you've found it) around the globe is beginning to dissipate--whether rightfully so or not.
Oh goody...
Faithful servant,
Rest assured,
They won't do that.
A rail gun won't have the necassary velocity to reach orbit.
As for the EMP,
That's only a good idea if they don't have space assets.
And China has been putting up a lot of satellites latly.
THey wouldn't kill their own just to eliminate ours.
On a side note,
I'm not to concerned about China,
We only spend 4% of our GDP on Defense,
And we still spend almost as much as the rest of the world combined.
If it comes down to it,
We can cut all our social programs and pump in 50%+,
Yeah,
Try and mess with that.
Why oh why oh why does China hold favored nation status with the US? By trading with and exporting jobs there America is funding Communism, along with China's military....
BTW we should cut those social programs that TheEarthCanBeMoved was talking about regardless.
Not only is China going through a massive military build up and moderization campaign, they're lying about it. According to one report I read, the U.S. intelligence services believe that China is reporting only a quarter of their actual military expenditures.
I'm glad that I'm not the only one to see the Chinacoms as a threat.
Under:
Yeah, I would be trying to shoot the satilites of freedoms leader if I was a commie.
KA: China is most definatly a growing threat, but they depend as much on our purchasing as we do on their manufacturing. I have a hard time envisioning a war in the coming years.
Carey: My thoughts exactly. I hope they don't sell it.
Jason, I didn't know that. Good point.
Seth, China holds Favored nation status because they sell cheap stuff, which we willing buy. Money strikes again...
Raben, that is pretty concering, although I'll bet most nations lie about their military buildups.
Yes, China is a bigger threat than most of us realize. They are making oil deals w/ other oil nations that we don't deal with like Somolia, Libya, Venezuala, Iran, etc. China sell arms to them in these transactions. The only reason we have not heard much about this is cuz as y'all have pointed out is that they export cheap stuff. Eventually though it will catch up to us if we are not careful.
no, i am talking about the other way around.
Another thing the article said is that within the next year or two, China will have nuclear-missiles capable of reaching any point in the United States from China. I seem to recall not too long ago when we were like, "Why are China's missiles pointed our way?"
The aforementioned article said that not longer after they have those type of missiles, they will have submarines with nuclear capabilities, essentially making their military's reach global.
Yes, China depends on our money, but that was my point. They sell the American citizens overpriced junk, and the Communist government and military--not their citizens--get the proceeds. We are funding a military build-up that we don't want, and in return we're getting t-shirts, tennis shoes, toys, and tons of other material, trivial stuff like that.
You say, Palm Boy, that you can't envision a war, but I can see it coming. China is Communist; it supports our enemies; and it hates us--it IS our enemy, when push comes to shove! Granted, because of our trade and our far superior military (at least in the past), China has been very friendly publicly in the past few years. But if America continues to stand for what is RIGHT, those who love the WRONG ("the darkness," as the Bible would say) will eventually collaborate against us. In fact, when you look at Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, and others, you can see that it's already begun.
I heard about this on Rush yesterday (on like 4 diff stations) on my way home. They/he didn't go into this kind of detail tho.
China has missles pointed our way, we've got a fleet in there area. Missles don't mean hostility.
China is communist, but so is half of Africa and the balkans, and yet, most people don't see them as enemies.
Nations have always colaborated against other nations, Iran, Venezula, and Cuba are nothing new. China, Russia, and North Korea are in the same boat, and while that is concerning, I do not think it means war on the US.
Joy, I didn't listen to Rush. Dang.
*shuffles off to find the podcast*
Ok...
I haven't studied China's nuclear arsenal,
(Just because that area doesn't affect my major yet)
But I do know a good deal about orbital mechanics.
If you can put something in orbit,
You can put it on the ground anywhere on the globe.
China has had satellites for a while now,
So global strike with ICBMs isn't exactly a challenge for them.
Yeah I know why China holds the favored nation status with the US. It was a rhetorical question. :)
Anyways as KA said by buying stuff from China we fund thier government and thier military NOT the citizens.
So basically we are paying China to build up thier military.
Yes, we are. But unless there is a large issue over the freedom of Taiwan, I do not see us going to war, espessially a war involving ground invasions on enemy territory, or nuclear arms.
China itself has a huge paradox that will lead to a collapse into compleate communism, anarchy, or a large capitalist country. The economy, espessially Hong Kong, is capitalistic, while the government is communist along the lines of Marxism. Sooner or later, these two will collide.
Whether or not the climate is shaping up for a war with China, there are several factors that make China a threat (these are off the top of my head, so if I'm wrong on any of these, please correct me):
1.) They* are Communist.
2.) They* hate democracy/freedom (at least they hate that Taiwan is independent--and of course, they're Communist, so that's a hint).
3.) They* support some of our enemies (although I think even they are kind of scared of North Korea).
4.) They have the biggest military and/or largest population of any of our potential threats.
5.) They are quickly acquiring a highly technological arsenal.
6.) Their military build-up is based on wanting to be competitive with the U.S..
7.) We're supplying capital for their build-up.
8.) They steal our military secrets. Two things to note here:
a)First of all, that means they're too sneaky to ask. And/or,
b)Our government doesn't trust them enough to give them our military blueprints (and I second their analysis, by the way, if this be the case).
That last point really scares me, because--if we ever were to go to war with a large nation like China--I would not want to face our very own American arsenal (or slightly different rip-offs).
Like, I said, those were off the top of my head, so there could be more, or I could've stretched some, and I didn't exactly document my points, so I apologize. But I think relatively all these can be agreed upon as fact.
*When I say "they," I'm referring to the government and military, since China has many Christians and others who probably desire to be free.
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