Star Wars Missile Defense System

The proliferation of Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles during the ColdWar lead to an impossible situation. UnitedStates President Ronald Reagan announced his intentions to develop a new system, the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), to reduce the threat of nuclear attack and end the strategy of mutual deterrence. The system he proposed became known as "StarWars," after the movie, because it was meant to destroy missiles from space. The SovietUnion feared the system would increase the risk of the United States launching a first attack, because U.S. officials would not fear retaliation. Some people maintain that President Reagan's threat led to the breakup of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.

These folks are, of course, totally bonkers. The SovietUnion broke up because it went broke trying to keep up with Ronny Raygun's defense spending. Don't forget that the USA was the world's largest creditor nation in 1981 when Reagan took office. When he left in 1989 the USA was the world's largest debtor nation, a position it still holds today [2005]. Ivan simply couldn't keep up with the Jonses at that scale.

it's baaaack: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/22/news/missile.php "U.S. seeks antimissile shield to block Iran"

Looks like we have secret deals going to start more lucrative ColdWars...

This week's (ca. Jan 21 2007) successful test of a Chinese satellite-killer missle brings the issue back to the headlines and ups the ante. With a little more research and practice, they may be able to destroy US spy satellites.