December 28, 2006

Have a Happy New Decade: A perilous race

By James Lewis
Let's look at the coming decade --- 2007-2017, rather than just the year 2007. It's a lot more interesting and significant. Suppose solar energy becomes economically competitive within ten years. The US Department of Energy is betting on it. The effects of cheap solar energy on geopolitics would be huge --- suddenly the narrow and dangerous Persian Gulf would lose its critical leverage on the world's energy budget. Saudi Arabia would become just another country. Iran would lose some of its menace. Russia's monopoly over Europe's natural gas would be broken. The race for more energy sources would become much saner. And suppose that laser anti-missile defense becomes practical in half a dozen years. Suddenly the danger of nuclear attack --- the  greatest man-made risk of the last seven decades --- would become manageable. Speed-of-light laser weapons operate on line-of-sight, giving ground-based defenses a major advantage against air and space attack. High-energy lasers could be...(Read Full Article)