Among the many things that President Obama did and called for in his first week as President of the United States was a lightly covered, highly overlooked, yet extremely significant statement regarding his desire for a global ban on space-based weapons.

I, for one, am all for this ideologically, but only IF it could work. The ban must be an absolute global ban. Russia and China specifically must not only be on board, but must enthusiastically sign the treaty. Even then I wouldn’t trust them to adhere to the treaty with the leadership they currently have in place.

In no way should America ever remotely consider banning their use and development of space-based weaponry without major support from Russia and China to do the same and with checks to ensure compliance.

The problem is, I have absolutely zero confidence it would work. As a result, while I would love to have a global ban of space-based weapons (and nuclear weapons for that matter), I am a realist. The fact of the matter is, there are many powerful countries who do not share the liberal and semi-passive values that permeate the west. I understand the need to hold ourselves (the U.S. and Europe) to a higher standard to be an example to the world, but we shouldn’t do so in compromise of our security or way of life.

China and Russia are actively seeking to obtain the global influence that the United States has had for the last 20 years. They want nothing more than to be a counter-weight to the U.S. While I think it is probably healthy to have a multi-powered world, a semi-unilateral banning of space weapons, nuclear weapons, or anything for that matter would only make the U.S. and Europe vulnerable. And considering the three most powerful countries in the world are the U.S., China, and Russia and the fact that the latter two don’t hold the same value of freedom and democracy that we in the west so espouse, it is in the world’s best interest for the United States to maintain it’s position as among the world’s power. We absolutely cannot allow the West to fall and have China or Russia replace the United States. At least not as those countries are currently lead and constituted. Thus, any vulnerability should quickly be remedied by the West.

So while I actively support President Obama pushing for a world-wide ban on such weaponry, he needs to proceed cautiously and realistically. And realistically, there is zero chance that space-based weaponry will be forever banned. Power corrupts, and people/nations that see a vulnerability in another, especially a rival, will use whatever is necessary to exploit it when the time is right. Sad but true.