USA cutting space spending while Russia, China, and Europe increase their spending

European Ariane 5 Rocket (Philippe Semanaz)

While the USA is moving away from funding space projects, much of the rest of the world is moving ahead according to Voice of America (a USA government news agency):

The United States invested $38.7 billion in civil- and defense-related space projects, $8.8 billion down from its 2009 peak but still more than half of the global total.

Russia, by contrast, has ramped up its spending by an average of more than 30 percent over the last five years and is now the only country after the United States to spend more than $10 billion a year.

Japan, China, France, Germany, Italy and India all invested more than $1 billion a year, it said. China, currently in eighth place globally, is expected to ramp up spending considerably over the next decade.

“The current global context for public space programs shows many positive signs brought by new leading space nations and an ever-growing number of countries who have initiated plans to build up their space-based capabilities,” said Steve Bochinger, chief operating officer at Euroconsult.

The report showed the number of countries taking a serious interest in space exploration is rising.

Fifty-eight countries invested $10 million or more in space applications and technologies in 2013 compared to 53 in 2011 and 37 in 2003. Another 22 countries had plans for space investment, it said.

Britain, Canada, Brazil, Spain, South Korea, Belgium, Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Mexico, Australia, Holland, Switzerland, Turkey, Sweden, Israel, Nigeria, Iran and Norway each spent more than $100 million. http://www.voanews.com/content/reu-global-spending-on-space-falls-emerging-states-spending-more/1851090.html

The USA is beginning to lose its current lead in space. Europe’s Galileo satellite program continues to advance (see Europe’s Galileo ‘GPS’ and laser nuclear fusion), and it is expected to end up being more accurate than the USA’s GPS Europe is moving forward with its space plans and few in the USA seem to realize that when it gets enough power, the USA will lose all of its (cf. Daniel 11:39).

Although some feel that Europe is too divided to get military spending or other matters done efficiently, not only does the Bible essentially predict that (Daniel 2:41-43), the Europeans themselves are attempting to make procurement changes related to their rocket and other space technology related to that as the following news item indicates:

PARIS — In what European Space Agency Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain called a “Valentine’s Day present,” four European rocket-hardware builders on Feb. 14 submitted a united proposal for how to build the next-generation Ariane 6 rocket using an organizational setup that turns ESA’s traditional practice on its head.

The four companies — Airbus Defence and Space, Safran, OHB AG’s MT Aerospace and Italy’s Avio — have been given “total carte blanche” to create a contractor team with only one goal in mind: Produce a vehicle that can be built and launched for 70 million euros ($95 million), Dordain said.

“For years industry has been telling us: ‘Give us the freedom to organize ourselves as we want and we can be much more efficient,’” Dordain said here Feb. 13 during a conference organized by the French Aerospace Industries Association, GIFAS, and by Euroconsult. “They have their chance now, as we have put absolutely no constraints on them on geographic return or anything else. The only requirement is the cost: 70 million euros.”

Francois Auque, chief executive of Airbus Defence and Space’s Space Systems division, which is prime contractor for Ariane 5, said Feb. 13 that if ESA would allow industry the same freedom in developing and building launch vehicles as the French Defense Ministry allows in production of the M51 ballistic missile, rockets in Europe would be less expensive to build and operate. http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/39494europe%E2%80%99s-rocket-builders-present-industrial-plan-for-ariane-6

While many think that the Russia is the final King of the North that the Bible warns of (see Is Russia the King of the North? and/or watch a video, also titled Is Russia the King of the North?), the Bible actually teaches that this King will be European power with ties to the Mediterranean Sea. The Bible is clear that the “Great Sea,” where the Beasts of Daniel 7 come from, is the Mediterranean Sea (e.g. Joshua 9:1, 23:4; Ezekiel 47:15). The Beast power is not a nation like Russia, which does not border the Mediterranean Sea, but Europe which does. While Russia and its military has an end time role to play (see Russia: Its Origins and Prophesied Future and The Eurasian Union, the Kings of the East, and Bible Prophecy), and China also has a role (see Asia in Prophecy and/or watch Is China THE Threat to the United States of America?), they are not the Beast of Revelation 13–that will be a European power (see Europa, the Beast, and Revelation).

Not only do the Europeans also have the world’s most advanced super-collider (CERN’s LHC) with plans to develop yet another (Germany’s F.A.I.R.), the Europeans also have a laser project called ELI that seems to partially have the intended capability to be a major space weapon (see also European technology advances, while USA disses EU to Ukraine). Europe developed its Galileo system to break its dependence on the USA (see EU, UK, US, Asia, & Galileo) and it was specifically funded because of its military potential (see EU Approves Galileo For Military Use).

Although some feel that the idea of Europe taking over the USA is absurd, lessons of history (such as WWI and WWII) suggest otherwise. Furthermore, the Bible tells of a time when a power now based in Europe will decide to do so, even though it did not think it would want to:

5 “Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger
And the staff in whose hand is My indignation.
6 I will send him against an ungodly nation,
And against the people of My wrath
I will give him charge,
To seize the spoil, to take the prey,
And to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
7 Yet he does not mean so,
Nor does his heart think so;
But it is in his heart to destroy,
And cut off not a few nations. (Isaiah 10:5-7)

For more on the identity of Assyria above, check out the article Germany’s Assyrian Roots Throughout History.

Additionally, it needs to be understood that military planners in the USA initially did not want the Europeans to develop their Galileo GPS as that was considered to be a potential military threat as BBC reported years ago:

BBC Jan 7, 2010… Galileo should have been operational by now but the project has run into myriad technical, commercial and political obstacles, including early objections from the Americans who thought a rival system to GPS might be used to attack its armed forces. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8442090.stm

Now, instead, the USA and UK are ignoring this and have decided to rely on the European-controlled upcoming Galileo system for part of their military defense. This is dangerous, overlooks the lessons of history, and ignores the warnings in the Bible. After posting the above today, a reader sent the following news item:

Merkel, Hollande to discuss European communication network avoiding U.S.

Reuters – Feb 15, 2014

BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday she would talk to French President Francois Hollande about building up a European communication network to avoid emails and other data passing through the United States.

Merkel, who visits France on Wednesday, has been pushing for greater data protection in Europe following reports last year about mass surveillance in Germany and elsewhere by the U.S. National Security Agency. Even Merkel’s cell phone was reportedly monitored by American spies…

“We’ve got to do more for data protection in Europe, there’s no doubt about it,” Merkel said on Saturday.

Germany has been pushing, so far in vain, for a ‘no-spy’ agreement with Washington. http://news.yahoo.com/merkel-hollande-discuss-possible-european-communication-network-avoids-135711921–sector.html;_ylt=Aifv_RnFOxmHWgcdgTzAhhXQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTBsaGVqY3E0BGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHNlYwNzcg—

The Europeans are making moves that will end up hurting the USA.

While it cuts its spending on space, the USA is also sharing a lot of technology with the Europeans, which will give them an advantage that Russia and China will not receive. The USA has also agreed to share its espionage techniques and to spy less on the Europeans (see The Snowden Leaks are Leading to the Destruction of the USA), this will also give the Europeans unique military advantages.

The world order is changing and the USA will not be able to remain on top indefinitely. Its debt and budget issues will help insure that.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? Is an emerging European power “the daughter of Babylon”? What is ahead for Europe? Here is a link to a video titled: Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European?
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies for the Great Monarch point to the same leader? Should he be followed? Who will be the King of the North discussed in Daniel 11? Is a nuclear attack prophesied to happen to the English-speaking peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? When do the 1335 days, 1290 days, and 1260 days (the time, times, and half a time) of Daniel 12 begin? When does the Bible show that economic collapse will affect the United States? In the Spanish language check out ¿Quién es el Rey del Norte? Here is a link to a video titled: The Future King of the North.
The Snowden Leaks are Leading to the Destruction of the USA Can what happened with the leaks of what the NSA has done help the USA to be taken over? What does the Bible teach that seems to be related to this? Here is a related YouTube video titled Are the Snowden NSA leaks leading to the destruction of the USA?
Might German Baron Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg become the King of the North? Is the former German Defense Minister (who is also the former German Minister for Economics and Technology) one to watch? What do Catholic, Byzantine, and biblical prophecies suggest?
Germany’s Assyrian Roots Throughout History Are the Germanic peoples descended from Asshur of the Bible? Have there been real Christians in Germanic history? What about the “Holy Roman Empire”? There is also a You-Tube video sermon on this titled Germany’s Biblical Origins.
Germany in Biblical and Catholic Prophecy Does Assyria in the Bible equate to an end time power inhabiting the area of the old Roman Empire? What does prophecy say Germany will do and what does it say will happen to most of the German people?
Large Hadron Collider may result in military applications The Europeans have the largest physics project on the planet. Some scoff, but might it result in military applications? May the Large Hadron Collider help fulfill Revelation 13:4?
Asia in Prophecy What is Ahead for Asia? Who are the “Kings of the East”? What will happen to nearly all the Chinese, Russians, Indians, and others of Asia? China in prophecy, where? Who has the 200,000,000 man army related to Armageddon? A YouTube video of interest may be Is China THE Threat to the United States of America?
The Eurasian Union, the Kings of the East, and Bible Prophecy Is there a Eurasian union that will be formed? Is one being formed right now? Are any leaders working on that in the 21st century? Does the Bible teach that there will be a Eurasian union? If some type of Eurasian union is formed, who might it benefit and who will it destroy? A related video would be Is The Eurasian Union Rising?
Russia: Its Origins and Prophesied Future Russia in prophecy. Where do the Russians come from? What about those in the Ukraine? What is prophesied for Russia and its allies? What will they do to the Europeans that supported the Beast in the end?
Is Russia the King of the North? Some claim it is. But what does the Bible teach? Here is a link to a video, also titled Is Russia the King of the North?
Prophecies of Barack Obama? Reasons why Barack Obama is apocalyptic and reasons why Barack Obama is not the Antichrist. This article includes many biblical and non-biblical prophecies, from around the world, that seem to discuss Barack Obama. Did Nostradamus predict Barack Obama dealing with the Antichrist? Might Barack Obama set the stage for the kings of the North and South as at least one Shiite prophecy suggests? Read it and decide for yourself if President Obama seems to be fulfilling various prophecies. Watch also the YouTube Barack Obama and the State of the Apocalypse.