Trump exiting Open Skies treaty
According to anonymous sources, Trump has decided to pull the U.S. out of the Open Skies Treaty, negotiated in 2002 to allow countries to overfly other nations freely.
President Trump will be pulling the United States out of the Open Skies Treaty, an agreement between more than 30 countries that allow for those involved to fly in each other’s air spaces, a senior administration official confirmed to Fox News. The New York Times first reported that Trump was planning to withdraw from the agreement, worrying NATO member nations who are concerned that once the U.S. is out, Russia will block their flights, which provide valuable surveillance of their own borders.
U.S. officials have warned that Russia had been violating the treaty already by not allowing flights over areas where military exercises were taking place or sites where Russia had nuclear weapons deployed. Each nation in the treaty agrees to make all its territory available for surveillance flights.
Note also that China is not a signatory.
Not surprisingly, their Democratic Party allies, always ready to aid other countries over U.S. interests, are already blasting this decision by the Trump administration.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
According to anonymous sources, Trump has decided to pull the U.S. out of the Open Skies Treaty, negotiated in 2002 to allow countries to overfly other nations freely.
President Trump will be pulling the United States out of the Open Skies Treaty, an agreement between more than 30 countries that allow for those involved to fly in each other’s air spaces, a senior administration official confirmed to Fox News. The New York Times first reported that Trump was planning to withdraw from the agreement, worrying NATO member nations who are concerned that once the U.S. is out, Russia will block their flights, which provide valuable surveillance of their own borders.
U.S. officials have warned that Russia had been violating the treaty already by not allowing flights over areas where military exercises were taking place or sites where Russia had nuclear weapons deployed. Each nation in the treaty agrees to make all its territory available for surveillance flights.
Note also that China is not a signatory.
Not surprisingly, their Democratic Party allies, always ready to aid other countries over U.S. interests, are already blasting this decision by the Trump administration.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
I’ve always wondered if the Russians overflew places like Area 51. The treaty says at least a few days notice has to be given, so the UFOs would be in the hanger and everyone would be sick that day. They used to occasionally overfly my old base, and it wasn’t a big deal. It was said we didn’t return the favor as much because satellite reconnaissance is far superior.
The Expanse
“Preemptive Railgun attack on Mars”
https://youtu.be/9fgaMhcTxCY?t=130
Like leaving the INF intermediate range missile treaty, I think Trump’s longer term aim is to get a new set of treaties that include China (after Xi Jinping is hanged).
Donald J Trump ending his typical standing press conference at the helicopter “Remarks Upon Departure” to that Ford factory (a company that is now smaller in market capitalization than the hand made collection item maker Ferrari):
Journalist:
– (Are you going to be present at the rocket launch? [SpaceX crewed Dragon 27 May])
Trump:
– I’m thinking about going to the rocket launch, next week. I’d like to put ya’ all on the rocket to get rid of you for a while!”
With satellite technology today, the flyovers appear outdated.
@Charles, Being at 10 km altitude over a target of interest, at a speed of a couple of hundred meters per second, always will have advantages over being at 300 km altitude at eight million meters per second. Being 30 times closer to the target means a thousand times better resolution with the same equipment.
*) thousands turned millions above. That’s weird.
The sad thing is that these over flights are not just fly overs.
The participants have to call ahead and get permission for a specific path. They are allowed to fly anyplace.
The real problem is that members like Russia do not have the aircraft that can make the fly over without refueling. So we have been letting them land and refuel inside the US.
Plus the US doesn’t even need to do fly overs anymore. Just put a satellite on it.
In terms of whether Open Skies is still needed, let me point out that it was proposed by Eisenhower in 1955. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/eisenhower-presents-his-open-skies-plan
– the same year the U-2 first flew and so, before it was operational.
I would think that the people who know whether it is useful or not aren’t talking
LocalFluff–
you mean, “after Xi Jinping is….. vaporized.”
Minuteman III launch animation
https://youtu.be/S-V6MZlyCqE
2:22
@wayne
No, I mean when, any day now, Xi’s (isn’t that spelled “her’s” in English?) best friends hang him from a lamp post because he’s in their way of earning more monies by opening up and do good business. Like the Chinese in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore do. Xi is more afraid of the Chinese than anyone else is. Xi grabbed totalitarian power from his rival party friends, and promised Nirvana. When his promise isn’t kept, something bad will happen to him.
“- Here’s your ‘Belt” around your neck on this ‘enlightened Road’ of yours!”
Doesn’t his formal tenure end in 2022? I think it will. Even if he hasn’t formally nominated a successor, I think that others have. They who had enough of Mao I.