Remote sensing satellites, superpower relations and public diplomacy

This article examines the consequences for US-Soviet relations of the wide availability of commercial remote sensing images. Both SPOT and Landsat images have recently been used, by the Western media as well as the superpowers themselves, to comment publicly on arms control controversies and environmental disasters, notably Chernobyl. Looking to the future, several scenarios involving third-party intervention in treaty compliance disputes, supported by commercial imagery, are discussed: unpleasant consequences could conceivably follow, but experience to date indicates that outcomes are most likely to foster openness and stability between the superpowers.