1y ago

US tells allies Russia could launch space nuke this year: NYT

The U.S. informed its NATO and Asian allies that Russia could deploy a nuclear weapon into space this year after details of American intelligence assessments of its ambitions circulated last week, according to The New York Times.

U.S. intelligence agencies also told allies Moscow could also send a harmless “dummy” warhead into space that would likely leave questions about Russia’s capabilities, the Times reported Wednesday.

American officials are reportedly divided in their predictions about Russia’s space ambitions. Officials pointed to Russia’s series of satellite launches in early 2022 and how American intelligence officials found out Russia was developing a new space-based weapon.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned the U.S.’s Chinese and Indian counterparts on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference last weekend that a nuclear detonation in space would knock out American satellites, along with those of Beijing and New Delhi, the Times reported Saturday.

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So an unstable hunk of nuclear material floating up in space that could fail and crash into a random spot of the planet?
This is somehow scarier than Russia being competent and putting a nuke up there. At least then you could predict what it may hit...
- Not to mention the horrific consequences of Kessler Syndrome when space is weaponized with any explosive ordinance…
  
  Explosives- even nukes- in space are kinda dumb. They rely on atmosphere to transmit the kinetic energy. Without substantial atmospheric pressure, they loose strength very quickly.
  Which is why most ASAT ordinance is some variation of kinetic kill- shot gun shells or just big masses that smash stuff.
  A nuke won’t be used for its explosion, but rather the EMP.
I’m not saying Russia hasn’t drawn up plans for this but this story sounds like a PR thing. America is trying to pass a bill to fund Ukraine. Suddenly, this “intelligence” comes out? It’s probably just to light a fire under Congress’s ass.
Putin is a real shitty leader but I’d imagine the U.S., China, India, and everyone else with an interest in space has plans to take out satellites. He’s probably not planning to nuke low earth orbit except in a mutually assured destruction scenario.
- There’s been some speculation that it came out to justify killing surveillance reform (ie nsa, feebs, buying location data and stuff from brokers,)
- Russian legal bodies recently pushed to close the info on their funding of Roskosmos and other connected structures. If that's a PR thing they do play into it. But I don't think they'd really do so, as it's a very resourcr consuming project out of their current priority, but a convinient mix of showing off and finding a safer way to still buy foreign equipment for a military.
- Yea, this isn't even a story. More like a high school rumor.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ8FRHJq69U
  Yeah, it's PR. HabiLine is definitely biased, but he's got some points.
  
  Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  https://www.piped.video/watch?v=LJ8FRHJq69U
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Do you want Kessler syndrome? Because weapons in space is how you get Kessler syndrome
- If Putin knew what Kessler syndrome is, he still wouldn't care.
  
  The destruction of the Kosmos 1408 satellite by a Russian ASAT missile on November 15, 2021, has created a large debris cloud, with 1500 pieces of debris being tracked and an estimated hundreds of thousands of pieces too small to track. Since the satellite was in a polar orbit, and its debris has spread out between the altitudes of 300 km and 1000 km, it could potentially collide with any LEO satellite, including the International Space Station and the Chinese Space Station (Tiangong).
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome#Anti-satellite_missile_tests
- Jokes aside. If there's any truth to this, there's no other outcome, right? It's endgame for telco and society as we know it?
I guess this is WMDs for the 2020s then?
- Which was just the extension of cold war red scare propaganda. They know this shit scares people and that's an effective tool of control. They're not going to stop using it.
  
  I didn't expect Russia to be the one doing the Red Scare propaganda
- Meanwhile you have a country using actual WMDs on a civilian population but you veto any attempt to stop them.
  Edit: Israel has used white phosphorus munitions on civilians.
  
  Missiles and guns are not WMDs
  
  Russia also used them in Ukraine.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The U.S. informed its NATO and Asian allies that Russia could deploy a nuclear weapon into space this year after details of American intelligence assessments of its ambitions circulated last week, according to The New York Times.
U.S. intelligence agencies also told allies Moscow could also send a harmless “dummy” warhead into space that would likely leave questions about Russia’s capabilities, the Times reported Wednesday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned the U.S.’s Chinese and Indian counterparts on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference last weekend that a nuclear detonation in space would knock out American satellites, along with those of Beijing and New Delhi, the Times reported Saturday.
Concerns over Moscow’s possible nuclear plans were brought to the forefront of Capitol Hill last week following a cryptic warning from House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio).
Funding for Ukraine has been left in limbo in Congress amid opposition from some Republicans, who are demanding significant immigration reforms as a condition for more aid.
Susi Snyder, a program coordinator at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, told The Hill last week the first step would likely be taken at the United Nations Security Council.
The original article contains 489 words, the summary contains 192 words. Saved 61%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Sounds like we’re all getting a heads up about the styrofoam satellites he’s putting into orbit.
Russia can’t even launch a three day “police action”.
- If they’re good at one thing, it’s space - the Soyuz is one of the most prolific and safe launch vehicles in the world.
  That being said, their quality control has certainly been slipping over the last few years.
  
  That was the Soviet Union and their scientists. Russia WISHES they could claim that invention!
  
  Yeah remember the holes in the Russian ISS modules? Clown shoes.

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