The Global Schoolyard

"A Chinese attack on a satellite using a weapon launched by a ballistic missile threatens to destroy space systems that the United States and other nations use for commerce and national security. Destroying satellites endangers people.
"Any purposeful interference with U.S. space systems will be interpreted by the United States as an infringement of its rights and considered an escalation in a crisis or conflict.
"The United States reserves the right, consistent with the UN charter and international law, to defend and protect its space systems with a wide range of options, from diplomatic to military."
Former U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, 2007.

The alpha male in any society, be it human or those of other animals, has been designed by nature to dominate. All others seek to placate the alpha, are cautious not to offend the alpha, remain content to receive what the alpha rejects, and waits for the alpha to give permission to proceed. That is authority.

That is the psychological strength of power, perceived or actual. Power engenders respect - and fear. The second- and third-strings accept the left-overs.

Until such time as age enfeebles the alpha, and new young conscripts into the tribe begin to flex their muscles and perfect intimidation tactics and confront the alpha and there is a stand-off and the power grid re-aligns itself. This is as predictable an infinitely repeated protocol in animal relations as time and tradition repeat ad infinitum.

If it is not the leader of a pack of feral animals, a fiercely determined tribal chief of human origins, it is that of the head of nations which present as the most advanced, wealthy, populous, militarily armed and determined. Nature has imbued all her organisms with the will to dominate, as part and portion of our inexhaustible will to survival.

Dominating dynasties, kingdoms and hierarchies have come and gone upon the world stage. From the ancient world to the present there has always been one or two aggressively dominant nations compelled by nature to authoritatively present as the powerhouse of achievement and dominance.

Some fail, while others prevail. The failures are those like Germany and its Axis allies, like the Soviet Union and its hapless satellites whose design for world domination was flawed and no match in the final analysis for others who out-matched their determination. Each world power as it develops its status prevails along the same pattern; a period of ascendancy followed by a slow decline.

The process by which the dominant force and the challenging force for dominance circle one another and challenge one another is as familiar as the schoolyard. Children's boasts of their fathers being stronger, bigger, fiercer than the others helps them negotiate the byways of social interaction in a world of literal chess; the game of grasping life's advantages, not the board game.

Enter China to confront and challenge the world's current super power. Their game of chess plays out not on the Earth itself, for we have progressed greatly over the millennia, to successfully access the options of the upper atmosphere, sending satellites into vast space, and proving that we can unerringly point a missile to destroy them.

But there is also space and opportunity as financial fortunes flow as others' ebb, to finance new power initiatives grounded on Earth, building immense and powerful aircraft carriers, designing and building advanced jet fighters, even if those designs owe everything to the genius of those being challenged; for another genius is that of emulation.

** FILE ** The nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier USS George Washington leads South Korean warships during joint military drills in the East Sea/Sea of Japan on Monday, July 26, 2010. (AP Photo)