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Missile Defense

Russian military leaders have expressed concern about US plans for a national missile defense system. Will defense technology be limited by possibilities for a strategic imbalance? Is this just SDI all over again?

rshowalter - 02:41pm Mar 23, 2001 EST (#1383 of 1391)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Hatred of Russia isn't at all deep here -- though distrust is -- we don't understand you --- and when we look at you, we often don't like what we see.

One thing is that Russians, and Russian dealings, often look ugly to American eyes. It seems to me that Russian dealings often look ugly in RUSSIAN eyes, as well, and for good reasons.

It seems to me that the best thing you can do for you status in America, and elsewhere, is to improve the aesthetic performance of Russia -- by RUSSIAN standards. Find ways to make YOUR OWN society work well, by your own standards.

Part of that would be learning to communicate better with us -- because we are competitors, in some ways but (and this is very important) CUSTOMERS and sources of CAPITAL in others.

Americans are not very often "racists" nor are they often intolerant of particular national groups. You can find particular Americans saying ugly things --- but by and large - we're tolerant.

Americans don't like Russians, in large part, because dealing with Russians is unpleasant for Americans -- we don't know how to communcate at the level that complex cooperation takes. When we think we have a meeting of the minds, we find we don't, or feel that you haven't kept your word (which we may well have misunderstood.) And America is ABOUT forming all sorts of "teams" that cooperate in complex ways.

The better Russia works _ by its own standandards - the easier it will be for us both.

rshowalter - 02:43pm Mar 23, 2001 EST (#1384 of 1391)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I think the expulsions were overdone, as well.

lunarchick - 02:43pm Mar 23, 2001 EST (#1385 of 1391)
lunarchick@www.com

"I dought most of them* have any idea what the Communist ideology is all about even today." *Americans.

The interesting thing about America is that it is made up from people's running from European political ideological systems on the one hand, and y refugees running from rightwing regimes systems supported and buffetted by the C-I-A.

So within the USA population there are no doubt diverse and skeptical viewpoints. Overall on Russian in C20, there would be a view that the people overthrew the monarchy to be done over by the Communist System, to then be done over by the post Communist System ---- while somewhere in there, some people wheren't having such a bad time of it! And probably a wish that Russia could now 'right itself' as in an upturned boat, and sail more smoothly into C21.

lunarchick - 02:45pm Mar 23, 2001 EST (#1386 of 1391)
lunarchick@www.com

The most interesting take on 'expulsion-game' was the article (above) from The Independent newspaper UK. It made me laugh a little!

lunarchick - 02:54pm Mar 23, 2001 EST (#1387 of 1391)
lunarchick@www.com

Noted this news: (I thought Taiwan had already taken China in the commercial sense ... the Taiwanese are 'very' Chinese .. moreso than American): ""media reports said the colonel, whose name is not known, was a member of the foreign affairs department of the PLA's general staff and was involved in managing China's military relations with the US.

China's top military organisation, the Central Military Commission, which is chaired by President Jiang Zemin, had ordered the investigation of hundreds of officers who deal with foreigners to avoid a repeat incident, the Washington Post quoted Chinese sources as saying.

The defection reportedly took place in December or January while the colonel was visiting the US as part of an official delegation. His wife was later spirited out of China after attending a function at the US embassy in Beijing, where she was given travel documents, the Post reported.

The defection, if confirmed, could yield valuable insight for Washington into China's military build-up.

China this month increased its annual military budget by 17.7 per cent to 141 billion yuan ($28 billion), the biggest increase in military spending in years.

Pentagon officials say China has 300 ballistic missiles deployed on its eastern coast facing Taiwan, and is adding to the arsenal at a rate of 50 a year. The Bush administration views the build-up with concern and is assessing the Chinese military threat to Taiwan, which it is bound by law to protect.

Beijing has vowed to retake the island, which it regards as sovereign territory. ""

lunarchick - 02:57pm Mar 23, 2001 EST (#1388 of 1391)
lunarchick@www.com

Beijing was directing itself towards the prestige of 2008 Olympics ... rather than a military build-up. I wonder if Bush-the-younger ever read the 'foreign news' sector of his Baseball Daily ?

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