That sounds reasonable space protection right?  Who gets to be in charge of the laser(s) the best video game player in the world or some one from the military?  Who would you put your money on?  Some of the commenters in the article have opinions:

Murray Rosenthal writes:

This type action is very much overdue. Space debris will become an increasingly major hazard to ALL nations’ space programs.. The Riken team proposal is well worth supporting and should be implemented ASAP. The technology is now here. Murray

Fakedyn also comments:

It would be nice if the article had a little bit more detail about the orbit degrading process.  I expect the process relies on boiling/ablating off one side of the target and the resultant burn off acts as the propulsion.  With smaller particles I know lasers can “push” the target object.  So I would expect the system relies on both propulsive properties.

These are both good questions and most people aren’t necessarily thinking of space danger aside from walking out of a sci fi movie.

thanks to Andrew Tarantola from Engadget for the great write-up