Space Cafe Geopolitics “33 minutes with Dr Jessica West” on nukes in space, 2024 edition

This Space Café Geopolitics will feature Dr Jessica West, Senior Researcher at Project Ploughshares, in conversation with Torsten Kriening, Publisher of SpaceWatch.Global.

Nukes in Space, a 2024 edition and an analysis of the Russian veto at the UN Security CouncilLast week, Wednesday 24 April 2024, Russia vetoed the UN Security Council’s resolution to reaffirm the Outer Space Treaty’s ban on weapons of mass destruction in space crafted by the US and Japan. That veto was set in the same week that at UN COPUOS in Vienna the Legal Subcommittee had their 63th session. Breaking Defense’ Theresa Hitchens quoted in an article about the situation our guest Dr Jessica West: “The resolution reflects an unprecedented escalation of the diplomatic standoff in the United Nations between the United States and Russia regarding arms control and security measures in outer space, which has been decades in the making,” Jessica West, of Canada’s Project Ploughshares, told Breaking Defense.

In this Space Cafe Geopolitics, Torsten will discuss with Jessica the lead up to the Security Council Resolution, how the vote unfolded, and the potential consequences. As we reported earlier, intelligence about a possible nuclear weapon threat in outer space was leaked in the lead up to the Munich Security Conference in 2024. Is this threat real, how is it affecting space diplomacy, and how can it be averted?