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Missile Defense

Nazi engineer and Disney space advisor Wernher Von Braun helped give us rocket science. Today, the legacy of military aeronautics has many manifestations from SDI to advanced ballistic missiles. Now there is a controversial push for a new missile defense system. What will be the role of missile defense in the new geopolitical climate and in the new scientific era?

gweiman - 05:33pm Dec 19, 2000 EST (#524 of 540)

SDI is a total waste of time. Countries like North Korea and Iraq can inflict great damage to the U.S by smuggling in chemical or bio weapons that can cause thousand or even millions of deaths. SDI only destablizes MAD which like it or not has kept us from nuclear war for over 50 years.

rshowalter - 08:30am Dec 20, 2000 EST (#525 of 540)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

SDI might be fine, if it could be made to work. But that "if" can't be forgotten.

rshowalter - 03:17pm Dec 28, 2000 EST (#526 of 540)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

In this posting, and some just before, there's discussion of the work of George W. Hart, work that ought to be essential to efficient missile defense software, that is almost certainly being ignored. rshowalter "How the Brain Works" 12/28/00 2:01pm

armel7 - 11:57am Dec 30, 2000 EST (#527 of 540)
Science/Health Forums Host

Any comments on W's choice for Sec of Defense? What is the future of the missile defense system?

Your host,
Michael Scott Armel

possumdag - 03:41pm Dec 30, 2000 EST (#528 of 540)
Possumdag@excite.com

Balkans Syndrome: Italian press report the death of the 5th Italian today. He was a peace keeper in 1995 and exposed to radiation from depleted URANIUM WEAPONS.

rshowalter - 04:01pm Dec 30, 2000 EST (#529 of 540)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

A lot of Republicans are good businessmen, and competent members of complex social groups. Maybe there will be more honest bookeeping here than you think. If a true anti-missile shield were actually buildable, I'd be all for it - diplomatic and negotiation complications, and all. But I do not know, and do not now believe, that any reasonable prospect of such a system exists, or has ever existed.

When military people say "it is classified - but trust me -- this stuff works, and it is great .." there's been a tendency for all concerned to accept that. One wonders how often that trust has been justified, and how long that trust will continue.

One also wonders whether anything about Star Wars (I,II, III .... n) can be verified, that doesn't come from simple information from actual tests.

The fact is, on tests that seem much easier than a real attack, they keep missing.

lunarchick - 05:59am Dec 31, 2000 EST (#530 of 540)
lunarchick@www.com

Nuclear weapons clean-up to cost taxpayers £32bn

Nick Paton Walsh Sunday December 31, 2000

The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that the future cost to the taxpayer of cleaning up Britain's nuclear defence installations will be £32 billion. The expensive and complex process of decommissioning nuclear military facilities once they have aged past safe use is generally calculated and costed when they are built. In June 1999, the MoD claimed that the cost would be only £10bn, but a recent review of the MoD's nuclear facilities by the Treasury said that it needs to put aside three times as much as that to close down all nuclear submarines and missiles.

Britain's nuclear weapons programme began 40 years ago, and now covers 26 submarines and processing and weapons plants.

'The public is entitled to know the real cost of the nation's nuclear programme - not just the acquisition figure, but how much the taxpayer will be liable for in years to come,' said Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat spokesman for defence. 'It seems extraordinary that the original figure of £10bn could have been so far out and suggests that there has been no real analysis of what is required until very recently.

more see http://www.observer.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,416563,00.html

possumdag - 05:14am Jan 4, 2001 EST (#531 of 540)
Possumdag@excite.com

Thread re use of URANIUM BULLETS - Bosnia "No threat to nationals" 6 Italian Soldiers Dead. Uranium bullets litter war zones of Europe!!!! http://talk.guardianunlimited.co.uk/WebX?13@@.ee7d839/0

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