I hadn’t realized this episode had been sitting on my playlist since February.
But it’s a long term view on war (defense) in space, and how it’s been a favorite but useless toy of more than 1 potus.
And it’s even more dystopian & pessimistic than the usual tone of this excellent podcast.
President Donald Trump wants to build an American Iron Dome. He even signed an executive order to make it happen. It’s a terrible idea, one we’ve tried before, and one that will make America less safe.
In this episode, Joseph Cirincione returns to the program to detail his personal history with complicated and costly missile defense systems.
- It all starts during a snowstorm in 1982 and with the High Frontier
- Zombie defense pitches
- It’s almost impossible to knock a bullet out of space with a bullet
- How Israel’s Iron Dome works
- Slow and hot vs fast and cold
- Lasers don’t work, thanks Teller
- Pitch: lasers in space. Reality: missile batteries in Alaska
- These systems only work half the time and only under perfect conditions
- SpaceX contracts abound!
- A Pentagon Powerpoint slide enters chat
- Jason’s Superman reverie, starring Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor
- How do China and Russia react?
- “The enemy gets a vote.”
- The last arms control treaty
- Ronald Reagan: anti-nuclear advocate
- How SDI kept us from eliminating nuclear weapons
- Anatomy of an arms race
- AI is coming to nuclear command and control
No need to be a doubting Debbie. This will totally work to funnel more of our tax dollars into their pockets.
This was really fascinating to listen to
It was. And I really recommend that podcast - they work hard to deliver deep journalism with a long expiration date, and don’t shy away from topics that don’t comfortably fit within the usual political demarkation lines.
Yeah just like the original “Iron Dome”. Just another tool for imperialism, genocide, and MIC profits.
…the difference in “dog” dna and “wolf” dna is so negligible that any domestic can have intercourse with a wolf a produce a viable offfspring…there are “human beings” attempting to cleave the human genome so far from the original it becomes a new species…does that not seem a little wrong?
Wrong thread?
nope, pretty sure this is the correct response…
I remember Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” plan, the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a sweeping missile defense program announced in 1983. The SDI aimed to protect the United States from nuclear attack by intercepting and destroying incoming Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) before they could reach American soil. Sound familiar??
It was a boondoggle then and it’s a boondoggle now.
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