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Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · 7d

They keep declaring the death of NGOs. But we’re not gone, we’re adapting.

Civil society is still here, still shaping, still necessary.

I dig into what this means for diplomacy in my latest piece for the Ploughshares Monitor: ploughshares.ca/absent-voice...

Absent Voices, Fragile Diplomacy: Rethinking the ‘End of NGOs’ - Project Ploughshares

Geneva, July 2025 In the chilled UN meeting room, on the final day of the Open-Ended Working Group on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS), the chair invited civil society to speak. T...

ploughshares.ca

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Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · 8d

From Geneva to Brussels, the warnings are clear: unpredictability, arms racing, and risks that reach far beyond orbit.

📰 New on On Fragile Orbits: onfragileorbits.substack.com/p/were-not-i...

We’re Not in the Peaceful Uses Era Anymore

The fog of peace has lifted — and what we see in orbit is distortion, arms racing, and risk.

onfragileorbits.substack.com

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Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · 14d

It was pointless 20 years ago. Now it's absurd 😅

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Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · 14d

🚀 #GoldenDome: what’s it about?

Tomorrow I’ll be online with Sam Wilson + International Student/Young Pugwash to talk through the nuts, bolts, dilemmas & dollars.

Plenty of discussion time. Bring your questions and maybe a calculator.

Register: britishpugwash.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?...

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Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · 14d

I like this news.

Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · 14d

🚀 The countdown is on for #ArtemisII.

Jeremy Hansen jokes about training for space death. Beneath the humour is truth: human spaceflight IS life & death.

Astronauts are explorers and pioneers of human health, a part of the human story in space worth appreciating.

🔗 www.cbc.ca/news/science...

What's it like training for a moon mission? Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen gives us the scoop | CBC News

If all goes as planned, early next year four astronauts will blast off on a mission that’s been a long time coming: a return to the moon. Canada's Jeremy Hansen takes us through what he's been doing t...

www.cbc.ca

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Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · 16d

Also available in podcast form: podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/s...

Space Cafe Radio - From the Lunar Surface to Global Diplomacy with Dr Jessica West

Podcast Episode · Space Café Radio · 18/09/2025 · 36m

podcasts.apple.com

Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · 18d

Space no longer feels like the era of “peaceful uses.”

At UNIDIR’s #OS25 we tackled lunar risks, commercial pressures, youth voices, and unpredictability in orbit.

I’m still holding onto optimism. Diplomacy can move us forward.

🎙️ @spacewatch.bsky.social

spacewatch.global/2025/09/spac...

Space Café Radio - with Dr. Jessica West - SpaceWatch.GLOBAL

Join us as we sit down with Dr Jessica West, recently back from the Outer Space Security Conference in Geneva.

spacewatch.global

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Reposted by Dr. Jessica West

North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network @naadsn-rdsnaa.bsky.social · 28d

Excellent new piece out by @jessicawestphd.bsky.social on #spacesecurity

Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · 29d

Constraint is survival.
Convergence is progress.

That is the message in my new CIGI piece with @vsamsondc.bsky.social reflecting on the #PAROS #OEWG. Convergence needs is also a theme at #OS25 Day Two, touching on cislunar to strategic and commercial space.

🔗 www.cigionline.org/articles/spa...

Space Security in Geneva: Between Constraint and Convergence

How UN diplomats working to prevent an arms race in outer space are inching forward through duplication, silence and small steps.

www.cigionline.org

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Reposted by Dr. Jessica West

Liviu Horovitz @liviuhorovitz.bsky.social · 27d

The UN open-ended working group on the prevention of an arms race in outer space is continuing with a two-track structure focusing on legally binding obligations & voluntary measures, a compromise keeping all at the table, write @vsamsondc.bsky.social & @jessicawestphd.bsky.social for CIGI 9/10

Space Security in Geneva: Between Constraint and Convergence

How UN diplomats working to prevent an arms race in outer space are inching forward through duplication, silence and small steps.

www.cigionline.org

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Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · 28d

We are quite the crew.

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Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · 29d

Constraint is survival.
Convergence is progress.

That is the message in my new CIGI piece with @vsamsondc.bsky.social reflecting on the #PAROS #OEWG. Convergence needs is also a theme at #OS25 Day Two, touching on cislunar to strategic and commercial space.

🔗 www.cigionline.org/articles/spa...

Space Security in Geneva: Between Constraint and Convergence

How UN diplomats working to prevent an arms race in outer space are inching forward through duplication, silence and small steps.

www.cigionline.org

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Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · Sep 5

“Department of War.” Names aren’t just labels; they set the logic of governance. Shifting from defense to war makes conflict the organizing structure, just as calling space a warfighting domain primes us to govern for conflict, not cooperation.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Trump seeks to rebrand Department of Defense as Department of War

The US president has sought to refocus the department on "warfighting" and a "warrior ethos".

www.bbc.com

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Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · Aug 28

Not the plan, but def a plan.

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Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · Aug 28

And feel the good beachy vibes, at the tail end of summer (in this hemisphere).

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Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · Aug 28

Thank you. Not a new idea but thinking about "Cs" gave me an opportunity to start writing on it.

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Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · Aug 26

Listening to the UN #OEWG on #PAROS from Nova Scotia, I thought I heard: “there is no C in space.”

They meant sea. But what’s really missing are the C’s: care, communication, consent, clarity, constraints.

More in my latest On Fragile Orbit: onfragileorbits.substack.com/p/from-sea-t...

From Sea to C: A Covenant of C's for Space

If orbit isn’t an ocean, what rules should guide it? The answer may lie in a new covenant of C's to navigate its perils.

onfragileorbits.substack.com

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Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · Aug 7

9/ 📄 For background check out (via
@ploughsharesca.bsky.social and Kathryn Barrett):

ploughshares.ca/golden-dome-...

Golden Dome Explained: Ambition, Reality, Risk - Project Ploughshares

In January 2025, US President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14186, directing the development of a sweeping new missile defence system called Golden Dome. While still in the early stages, the pla...

ploughshares.ca

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Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · Aug 7

8/ This path may be moving forward,but how we engage still matters.

Canada has choices to make about the kind of partner we want to be and the kind of security we want to build.

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Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · Aug 7

7/ Canada’s contribution to continental defence should be guided by:
🛡️ Resilience
🤝 Responsibility
⚖️ Restraint
…not illusions of invulnerability.

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Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · Aug 7

6/ Leverage diplomacy, not just hardware

✅ We’ve long been a leader in arms control and strategic risk reduction. That role is needed now more than ever.

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Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · Aug 7

5/ Push for strategic restraint:

✅ Canada use its role to push back on destabilizing proposals like space-based interceptors and advocate for responsible behaviour in orbit.

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Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · Aug 7

4/ There ARE ways forward for Canada:

✅ Invest in defence by detection
Our real strength is in early warning, surveillance, and situational awareness, especially across the Arctic.

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Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · Aug 7

3/ This isn’t just about defence, it’s about strategic stability. Systems like Golden Dome are:

❌ Expensive
❌ Unproven under real-world stress
❌ Known to fuel arms races rather than prevent them

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Dr. Jessica West @jessicawestphd.bsky.social · Aug 7

2/ Missile defence sounds reassuring.

But let’s ask:
🔸 Does it actually make us safer or just more expensive?
🔸 Are we buying deterrence or buying into escalation?

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