In the second part of Barry Stevens\' conversation with international law expert Michael Byers, the focus shifts to the \"tragedy of the commons\" unfolding above our heads. As thousands of satellites are launched by companies such as Elon Musk\'s SpaceX and millions of pieces of debris accumulate in orbit, the risk grows of a collisional cascade—known as the Kessler Syndrome—that could render parts of near-Earth space unusable for generations. Byers says that the rapid commercialization of space is linked to US military priorities and great power competition, as satellite networks sold as civilian infrastructure become essential tools of modern warfare and domination. The pace of expansion is outstripping the ability of international institutions to protect and govern the orbital environment. In the process, the spirit of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty is being steadily eroded. Space was envisioned as a realm of peaceful cooperation and a province of all humankind. This analysis shows how one of its last great global commons is being stolen and squandered.

Article 1 of the Outer Space Treaty, signed at the height of the Cold War in 1967, declares that space \"shall be the province of all [hu]mankind.\" That remarkable consensus, with its benefits to science and communication, has held for more than half a century— until now. In this conversation, host Barry Stevens talks with Michael Byers— Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at UBC and co-author of Who Owns Outer Space? — about how, behind breathless media coverage of rockets landing by themselves and astronauts circling the moon, Donald Trump\'s reframing of space as a \"warfighting domain\" and his Golden Dome fantasy are eroding fifty years of restraint and triggering an arms race. With Pentagon-backed companies like Musk\'s SpaceX, the commons of space is being crowded, enclosed, monetized, and militarized. But as Byers insists, \"it is not too late.\"

From the Cold War bomber gap to the Iraq WMD fraud to Golden Dome, America’s permanent war economy has spent 80 years converting real geopolitical conflicts into manufactured existential threats — and turning fear into profit.

The Iran war follows the same playbook: no confirmed nuclear weapon, no IAEA finding of a bomb program, no U.S. intelligence assessment authorizing one — but billions in new contracts, spiking defense stocks, and a president whose portfolio was moving through Palantir, Nvidia, and Broadcom while praising their “war-fighting capabilities.”

This isn’t about Iran’s human rights or a nuclear threat. It’s about contractors, client states, oil markets, and an imperial order that needs permanent danger to survive.

Jay says we must take up the recommendations of the 1934 Senate Nye Committee: take profit out of war.