STAR WARS? NO THANKS!

The world has embarked on a path that can only lead to the suicide of civilization, if not of the human species tout-court. For years now, we have been facing epochal emergencies — climate, energy, and resource crises among them.

This global crisis was never going to resolve on its own: the UN’s own assessment of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals confirms it, with 12 SDGs holding steady, 3 regressing (Zero Hunger, Climate Action, Peace & Justice), and only 2 (Affordable Energy, Good Health) showing modest improvement [1][2]. Now the resurgence of conflicts — converging toward a possible World War III — exacerbates this crisis and undermines civilization’s ability to survive and resume development. Notably, the USA–Iran conflict has shifted SDG 7 from a state of slow, modest progress to active vulnerability. Its immediate impact is a sharp increase in energy poverty, making the 2030 target for universal affordable access significantly harder to reach without urgent international financial intervention.

Global military spending for 2026 is estimated at $2.85 trillion [3]. This staggering waste of public money compounds the skyrocketing rise in fuel prices and, consequently, in the cost of all essential goods. The global economy is sinking under the weight of rearmament spending, which nearly every nation now treats as its top priority. The economy is not alone in being devastated by this morally decadent spiral. Even more dangerous is the cultural damage inflicted by wars, unpunished war crimes, and genocides when these are allowed to persist for years, with no prospect of international law and human rights being restored. The last decades of the past century saw a period of progressive erosion of the “values” of war and violence, thanks to great popular movements opposing war and violence as means of resolving conflicts. Today, the number and intensity of wars on Planet Earth have increased over the last ten years, making 2025–2030 a critical period that in some of our writings we have called a historical cusp. International law and human rights are systematically violated in the name of the law of the strongest, and in defiance of every appeal for reparation of the injuries suffered: to every such appeal, the only response is further injury, murder, and genocide. At this historical cusp, many unresolved tensions could come to a head, converging to ignite a global conflict — a World War III — with a consequent possible implosion of civilization, in which there would be no winners at all.

At its 4th World Congress, held in July 2026, SRI proposed a radical, 180-degree course correction:

  • Against resource wars on Earth, we propose civilian development and cooperation in space!
  • Against war and violence, we propose peace, civil dialogue, and fair compensation for all damages suffered by anyone involved in conflicts!
  • Against the destructive logic of rearmament, we propose total disarmament, through a progressive conversion of military-industrial capacity to civilian astronautics.

Accessing the immense resources of the Solar System will make any resource-war on Earth fully obsolete! Even a modest percentage of that $2.85 trillion budget would be enough to fund highly advanced projects in geo-lunar space, triggering a formidable economic relaunch and giving younger generations a cause worth striving for. The first two goals of the Final Resolution of SRI’s 4th World Congress, “Quality of Life, On Earth and Beyond,”[4] call for a complete U-turn: from war and death to life and collaboration for the future of civilization.

  1. SRI calls for an international ban on space weapons and for stronger diplomatic, legal, and public efforts to prevent the weaponization of outer space, prevent an arms race beyond Earth, and preserve space as a peaceful, cooperative, and civilian domain.

The Outer Space Treaty (1967) prohibits the deployment of weapons of mass destruction in space. We propose extending the ban to any type of weapon — or, better, to the offensive use of any device, even civilian, placed in space. This is proposed as an update to the Outer Space Treaty, currently the only binding instrument of international space law, ratified by 118 countries [5].

  1. SRI promotes the conversion of military-industrial capacity toward civilian space development, encouraging the redirection of technological, engineering, and industrial capacities from conflict-oriented production toward life-supporting, peaceful, and sustainable space infrastructure.

The good news: this conversion will not cause any job losses — just a redirection of the same capacities toward different goals: from death to life!

We have noticed a growing number and quality of positions and appeals by the Holy See, and by many religious authorities, against the terrible wars and genocides underway. SRI wants to express our solidarity and support to this raising movement, lead by the highest world moral authorities! [6]

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References

[1] United Nations, The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025 (sdgs.un.org / unstats.un.org).

[2] SRIC4 Thesis 1 – Status of civilization and quality of life (https://2026.spacerenaissance.space/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/1.1.CT1_.AVA_.02-ADRIANO-AUTINO.pdf)

[3] Global military expenditure estimates based on SIPRI data; worldwide spending reached an estimated $2.9 trillion in 2025, with 2026 projections continuing the upward trend.

[4] https://2026.spacerenaissance.space/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/SRIC4-Final-Resolution.pdf

[5] United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), status of the Outer Space Treaty: 118 states parties as of late 2025.

[6] Pope Leo XIV’s repeated public appeals for peace and an end to armed conflicts, including on Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, and Iran (Vatican News, 2025–2026). Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox), World Council of Churches (WCC), International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Rabbinical Council of Jewish Voice for Peace & T’ruah (The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights), consistently speak out against military aggression in Gaza, against the war I  Ukraine, urge de-escalation with Iran, and demand diplomatic solutions centered on human rights. The Dalai Lama & Tibetan Buddhist Leadership regularly appeal for dialogue, non-violence, and disarmament across all major modern conflicts, stressing that military force creates no lasting solutions in Ukraine or the Middle East.

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Adriano Autino

Posted by Adriano