Where Is the Red Line? The United States has now publicly acknowledged, for the first time, that it operates weapons in Earth orbit. What kind, how many, and since when, it naturally prefers not to say. Among great powers, that may not be the most surprising part. The more interesting question is why it suddenly became useful to say it out loud. Deterrence? A show of strength? Or simply a polite geopolitical message: *just so you know, we’ve got that too*? At the same time, American and Chinese experts are proposing new “red lines” for military artificial intelligence. Nuclear decisions, for example, should still be left to human beings. Reassuring. Especially in an age when red lines tend to remain red only until someone decides they would look more convenient in pale pink. So the rules remain. At least while they are useful.