Mar 29, 2024
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Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space on DVD

By TO411 staff writer Daisy Maclean

In 1967, a treaty banning the placement of weapons of mass destruction in space was created and signed. It did not say anything about other types of weapon. To date, almost one hundred countries have signed this treaty and another twenty-six await ratification. The treaty needs to be renewed, it needs to be strengthened and the U.S. is the only country that refuses to come to the table. This is because the U.S. is already making plans to militarize space.

The new film by members of the Canadian team that brought you The Corporation, Pax Americana raises some provocative questions as we stand on the threshold of a renewed arms race. The new high ground? Hundreds of kilometers above the Earth. Director Denis Delestrac has attained unbelievable access to US Air Force Space Command and interviews some of the most influential military space strategists about what exactly is happening above our heads. Are war machines already orbiting Earth? Can treaties keep space weapons-free? Must the World capitulate to one super-cop on the global beat?

The film is fast-paced, pithy and terrifying in that car accident kind of way – you’re horrified but you can’t look away. Using a mix of extremely well-chosen archival footage, beautifully shot B-roll and illuminating animated sequences, Delestrac imparts a large amount of information in a seemingly short time frame while maintaining a clear and concise argument. 

The Earth is surrounded by over a thousand satellites, and almost 50% of them belong to the U.S. This makes them both dominant and vulnerable in terms of geopolitics. In order to maintain this position fifty cents out of every American tax dollar goes towards military spending, maintaining a fund of $200 billion for the U.S. Air Force alone (Canada’s entire military budget is $21.8 billion). When China ran its anti-satellite test on one of it’s own aging weather satellites, it unwittingly played into the United States own paranoia about them that has been fed from the pentagon over the last three years. One only has to look at the campaign ads put out by the CAGW last year.

The reality of a ‘star war’ would be catastrophic. 

Not only would loosing satellites cripple our way of life – incapacitating cell phones, the internet, banks, aircraft controls, GPS, electrical grids and more – but it would leave a trail of space debris circling the globe at some 14,000 miles per hour, ten times the velocity of a rifle bullet. However, the film also investigates the idea that these fears may simply be a ruse used to justify the enormous budgets for missile defense and other space security schemes. Either way, according to Delestrac, “China and Russia have stated that if the US goes forward with its space control policy, they will have no choice than to use all their means of deterrence to protect their access to space. Including the use of anti-satellite technology and nuclear capability.”

This documentary goes a long way towards educating the public about the issues on hand, a part that the media seems to be reluctant to play, but perhaps Martin Sheen states it best when he says in the film, “We’re living in a very, very dangerous time. And there’s hardly any alarm in this area, across the board, I mean people are so inundated with so many things… just making a living, just getting through the day, just trying to remain sane in all this insanity that’s going on… that it’s hard to get their attention in saying, ‘wait a minute, I know you think it’s bad, I got news for you, it’s a lot worse.'”

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Headline, Industry News

Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space on DVD

By TO411 staff writer Daisy Maclean

In 1967, a treaty banning the placement of weapons of mass destruction in space was created and signed. It did not say anything about other types of weapon. To date, almost one hundred countries have signed this treaty and another twenty-six await ratification. The treaty needs to be renewed, it needs to be strengthened and the U.S. is the only country that refuses to come to the table. This is because the U.S. is already making plans to militarize space.

The new film by members of the Canadian team that brought you The Corporation, Pax Americana raises some provocative questions as we stand on the threshold of a renewed arms race. The new high ground? Hundreds of kilometers above the Earth. Director Denis Delestrac has attained unbelievable access to US Air Force Space Command and interviews some of the most influential military space strategists about what exactly is happening above our heads. Are war machines already orbiting Earth? Can treaties keep space weapons-free? Must the World capitulate to one super-cop on the global beat?

The film is fast-paced, pithy and terrifying in that car accident kind of way – you’re horrified but you can’t look away. Using a mix of extremely well-chosen archival footage, beautifully shot B-roll and illuminating animated sequences, Delestrac imparts a large amount of information in a seemingly short time frame while maintaining a clear and concise argument. 

The Earth is surrounded by over a thousand satellites, and almost 50% of them belong to the U.S. This makes them both dominant and vulnerable in terms of geopolitics. In order to maintain this position fifty cents out of every American tax dollar goes towards military spending, maintaining a fund of $200 billion for the U.S. Air Force alone (Canada’s entire military budget is $21.8 billion). When China ran its anti-satellite test on one of it’s own aging weather satellites, it unwittingly played into the United States own paranoia about them that has been fed from the pentagon over the last three years. One only has to look at the campaign ads put out by the CAGW last year.

The reality of a ‘star war’ would be catastrophic. 

Not only would loosing satellites cripple our way of life – incapacitating cell phones, the internet, banks, aircraft controls, GPS, electrical grids and more – but it would leave a trail of space debris circling the globe at some 14,000 miles per hour, ten times the velocity of a rifle bullet. However, the film also investigates the idea that these fears may simply be a ruse used to justify the enormous budgets for missile defense and other space security schemes. Either way, according to Delestrac, “China and Russia have stated that if the US goes forward with its space control policy, they will have no choice than to use all their means of deterrence to protect their access to space. Including the use of anti-satellite technology and nuclear capability.”

This documentary goes a long way towards educating the public about the issues on hand, a part that the media seems to be reluctant to play, but perhaps Martin Sheen states it best when he says in the film, “We’re living in a very, very dangerous time. And there’s hardly any alarm in this area, across the board, I mean people are so inundated with so many things… just making a living, just getting through the day, just trying to remain sane in all this insanity that’s going on… that it’s hard to get their attention in saying, ‘wait a minute, I know you think it’s bad, I got news for you, it’s a lot worse.'”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Headline, Industry News

Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space on DVD

By TO411 staff writer Daisy Maclean

In 1967, a treaty banning the placement of weapons of mass destruction in space was created and signed. It did not say anything about other types of weapon. To date, almost one hundred countries have signed this treaty and another twenty-six await ratification. The treaty needs to be renewed, it needs to be strengthened and the U.S. is the only country that refuses to come to the table. This is because the U.S. is already making plans to militarize space.

The new film by members of the Canadian team that brought you The Corporation, Pax Americana raises some provocative questions as we stand on the threshold of a renewed arms race. The new high ground? Hundreds of kilometers above the Earth. Director Denis Delestrac has attained unbelievable access to US Air Force Space Command and interviews some of the most influential military space strategists about what exactly is happening above our heads. Are war machines already orbiting Earth? Can treaties keep space weapons-free? Must the World capitulate to one super-cop on the global beat?

The film is fast-paced, pithy and terrifying in that car accident kind of way – you’re horrified but you can’t look away. Using a mix of extremely well-chosen archival footage, beautifully shot B-roll and illuminating animated sequences, Delestrac imparts a large amount of information in a seemingly short time frame while maintaining a clear and concise argument. 

The Earth is surrounded by over a thousand satellites, and almost 50% of them belong to the U.S. This makes them both dominant and vulnerable in terms of geopolitics. In order to maintain this position fifty cents out of every American tax dollar goes towards military spending, maintaining a fund of $200 billion for the U.S. Air Force alone (Canada’s entire military budget is $21.8 billion). When China ran its anti-satellite test on one of it’s own aging weather satellites, it unwittingly played into the United States own paranoia about them that has been fed from the pentagon over the last three years. One only has to look at the campaign ads put out by the CAGW last year.

The reality of a ‘star war’ would be catastrophic. 

Not only would loosing satellites cripple our way of life – incapacitating cell phones, the internet, banks, aircraft controls, GPS, electrical grids and more – but it would leave a trail of space debris circling the globe at some 14,000 miles per hour, ten times the velocity of a rifle bullet. However, the film also investigates the idea that these fears may simply be a ruse used to justify the enormous budgets for missile defense and other space security schemes. Either way, according to Delestrac, “China and Russia have stated that if the US goes forward with its space control policy, they will have no choice than to use all their means of deterrence to protect their access to space. Including the use of anti-satellite technology and nuclear capability.”

This documentary goes a long way towards educating the public about the issues on hand, a part that the media seems to be reluctant to play, but perhaps Martin Sheen states it best when he says in the film, “We’re living in a very, very dangerous time. And there’s hardly any alarm in this area, across the board, I mean people are so inundated with so many things… just making a living, just getting through the day, just trying to remain sane in all this insanity that’s going on… that it’s hard to get their attention in saying, ‘wait a minute, I know you think it’s bad, I got news for you, it’s a lot worse.'”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

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