SMH · Matthew Knott · Thursday 23 April 2026
A US military leader warns that China is racing ahead in space weaponry, framing the orbital domain as the next theatre of great-power rivalry.
A visiting American general flies in to tell us the Chinese have built space weapons, and the press transcribes it like stenographers at a revival meeting. Every decade the threat moves up another floor — land, sea, air, cyber, now the vacuum of space — and every decade the answer is the same: buy more of their kit. We haven't had an independent strategic thought since Curtin looked to America. Now we're looking to America to tell us what to look at.