NORDIC TRIP AND EURO SPACE

On Thursday I head to Sweden for the European Social Forum in Malmo where I will speak on September 20 about the militarization of space. That same day a large folk fest (demonstration) will be held and I will also get the chance to speak in the rally before the parade. Should be very exciting.

From there I head to Copenhagen, Denmark for a couple days and then up to northern Sweden where they have a "space center" called Esrange in the town of Kiruna. After that back south to Stockholm and then to Oslo, Norway.

Each of these three Nordic countries are now becoming deeply involved in space issues.

In Sweden and Denmark space technology surveillance bases help the U.S. spy on the people of Europe (above photo one example of these signals intelligence "sigint" stations).

The Vardo radar in northern Norway is being integrated with U.S. space warfare technology system and is directed against Russia similar to the proposed radar in the Czech Republic.

The U.S. space radar base at Thule, Greenland is also being upgraded for participation in Star Wars after a US-Denmark agreement was signed. (Denmark controls Greenland) The indigenous Inuit people, who were long ago moved off their land, still stand in resistance to this base.

Rocket launch facilities in Sweden and Norway, now used for civilian purposes, could become militarized as most space technology programs become "dual use" as we see at NASA in the U.S. where virtually every civilian mission now is a cover for space militarization.

The European Space Agency (ESA) will activate its own satellite-based space reconnaissance and navigation system called Galileo in 2013. The system will consist of 30 satellites in orbit and will be dual use - serving military and civilian purposes. Like all space technology programs Galileo is now costing more than originally estimated. At some point the conversation will likely turn to "Europe must protect our investment in Galileo. It is vulnerable to attack. Europe must build space weapons to protect Galileo."

ESA initiatives to increase interaction between European universities, research institutes and the aerospace industry will lead to further militarization of higher education - including the development of nonotechnology weapons.

The whole world is being enticed to take a bite of the space technology apple.

It is our job to remind folks that an arms race in space will cost us an arm and a leg and will make the world more unstable. Better we use our resources to create real jobs weatherizing homes, building rail, wind, and solar power.

It must become our mantra.