If the (conservative, friendly-with-Elan) Italian Prime Minister wanted to cool the outrage from all the other (not, not) European politicians a bit, then he could have claimed "this is only a stopgap, 'till our own satellites are online in a few years". TBD if he's planning to playing that card...or just enjoy the outrage.
Historical perspective: In 1922, the British Empire, France, Italy, Japan, and United States all signed the Washington Naval Treaty* to end their arms race, because (roughly) any one of them was capable of cranking out cutting-edge battleships** as fast as they cared to. And WWI had just demonstrated the mortal danger of "until everyone is bankrupt" arms races.
Vs. now, only the US (and within the US, only SpaceX) seems to retain that technological capability.
WHY? And why aren't very loud and nasty questions being asked about that loss of capability?
** Easily the largest and most technologically complex machines every produced, back then. And the international pecking order was very much determined by "who has the most, biggest, and best battleships".
If the (conservative, friendly-with-Elan) Italian Prime Minister wanted to cool the outrage from all the other (not, not) European politicians a bit, then he could have claimed "this is only a stopgap, 'till our own satellites are online in a few years". TBD if he's planning to playing that card...or just enjoy the outrage.
Historical perspective: In 1922, the British Empire, France, Italy, Japan, and United States all signed the Washington Naval Treaty* to end their arms race, because (roughly) any one of them was capable of cranking out cutting-edge battleships** as fast as they cared to. And WWI had just demonstrated the mortal danger of "until everyone is bankrupt" arms races.
Vs. now, only the US (and within the US, only SpaceX) seems to retain that technological capability.
WHY? And why aren't very loud and nasty questions being asked about that loss of capability?
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Naval_Treaty
** Easily the largest and most technologically complex machines every produced, back then. And the international pecking order was very much determined by "who has the most, biggest, and best battleships".