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Deblois, Bruce M. "Weapons in Space." Carnegie International Non-Proliferation Conference. Ed. . Washington, D.C.: Council on Foreign Relations, . [ 3 quotes ]

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Space Weapons Invite Pre-emption and Escalation in Regional Context
 
One such Commander in a recent war game commented, 'If I don't know what's going on because I have lost my eyes and ears in space, I have no choice but to hit everything, with everything I have.' That this conclusion actually surprised strategists suggests that we have not fully explored the implications of space weapons. What is common knowledge, described from years of futuristic war games, is that permanently based space weapons invite pre-emption and escalation. Local to a regional situation of heightened tensions, the existence of space weapons on one side, the other, or both could be the determining catalyst for full-scale war. ( More ... )
Deblois, Bruce M. "Weapons in Space." Carnegie International Non-Proliferation Conference. Ed. . Washington, D.C.: Council on Foreign Relations, . [ 3 quotes ]
Space Weapons are Especially Destabilizing in the Regional Context
 
In this less-stable global environment, there is also the prospect of space weapons causing less stable regional environments. That leads into my second point: space weapons will also cause regional instabilities. Integrating space weapons into military operations will undoubtedly have serious consequences for the progression of conflict situations. In
most war games that include space assets, commanders have repeatedly discovered that pre-emptively destroying or denying an opponent's space-based assets, using space weapons to do so, is both appealing and often, inevitably, leads to rapid escalation in a full-scale war, even triggering nuclear responses. ( More ... )
Deblois, Bruce M. "Weapons in Space." Carnegie International Non-Proliferation Conference. Ed. . Washington, D.C.: Council on Foreign Relations, . [ 3 quotes ]
Deployment of space weapons will cause world to align against U.S.
 
Point One: space weapons will cause global instability. Beyond obvious adversarial symmetric and asymmetric responses, allies and partners abroad will no doubt react unfavorably to any nation's unilateral decision to weaponize space. That, of course, will have great negative consequences on diplomatic relations worldwide. Although it is unlikely that weapons in space will completely sever strong existing diplomatic ties, simple unpopularity might prompt a shift in the international environment. Countries opposing or alienated by one nation's space policy might
gravitate to other alignments, possibly creating an international camp to oppose the space-weaponizing nation, on these and other issues, within international organizations such as the UN or World Trade Organization. ( More ... )
Deblois, Bruce M. "Weapons in Space." Carnegie International Non-Proliferation Conference. Ed. . Washington, D.C.: Council on Foreign Relations, . [ 3 quotes ]