New York Times on the Web Forums Science

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?

almarst-2001 - 11:26am Mar 28, 2001 EST (#1600 of 1606)

Russia to U.S.: Lets Improve Ties - http://www.newsday.com/ap/text/international/ap396.htm

rshowalter - 11:35am Mar 28, 2001 EST (#1601 of 1606)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Very good, and balanced response.

Let me comment about some previous postings, and get right back to it.

rshowalter - 11:36am Mar 28, 2001 EST (#1602 of 1606)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I've read the articles pointed out in almarst-2001 3/27/01 9:57pm

almarst-2001 3/27/01 10:23pm

almarst-2001 3/27/01 10:37pm

The fact is, I don't know enough about the circumstances to be sure of what to say, except for this right now.

The European countries, and Russia, need to consider responses that serve THEIR INTERESTS - and serve them in a way that can be clearly explained and justified to others ( but certainly to THEMSELVES ) insofar as possible.

There may no longer be a reason for NATO - if the US combines great coercive power with irresponsibility, patterns of exploitation, bad faith, and stupidity -- as can sometimes seem to be the case, then other NATO countries have an interest in withdrawing support from NATO, on a careful, incremental basis and going their own way -- under terms where the US remains a friend, but becomes less of a master.

WWII was a long time ago, and the Cold War ought to be over.

The idea that Europeans "need" the US for military activities is an absurdity only possible for people with a naive and narrow sense of what readily available and readily designable weapons can do.

rshowalter - 11:38am Mar 28, 2001 EST (#1603 of 1606)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

On intelligence matters, I think Russia should think very hard, not about the usages of the past, which have often misled her, but about usages that could work for the future. For example - would the US, to avoid some mutually destructive tit-for-tat , permit additional staffing on the following terms?

. Russia would be permitted additional staffing, of as many people as she wished, of Russian consulates with people who had ALL their phone calls and contacts with Americans monitored, with the monitoring being made available to American government agencies - and with contacts with any American national subject to "chaperoning" by US agents if this were desired, but with no other social or economic restrictions?

I think this would be in the interest of both countries, and might be a good reciprocal basis of interrellations under many circumstances. It would give Russia FAR better intelligence than she has now, and do so without deception. There may be many other ideas. But my main point is that Russia should play cards dealt her in her REAL national interest. Not according to "written and unwritten rules" of a secret game that has not worked well for either Russia, or the world.

rshowalter - 11:39am Mar 28, 2001 EST (#1604 of 1606)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

The point about deficiencies in NYT coverage pointed out in almarst-2001 3/27/01 10:42pm seem well taken. But a great paper can show many traits, including contradictory traits, at the same time, even on closely related issues. It is interesting to ask "why"-- others will judge this better than I possibly could.

rshowalter - 11:55am Mar 28, 2001 EST (#1605 of 1606)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Russia to U.S.: Lets Improve Ties ............AP international

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia and the United States should move beyond a spy scandal that has shaken relations over the past week and work to improve ties, Russia's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. ........The statement came a day after Russia gave the U.S. Embassy the names of four American diplomats to be expelled from Moscow, in retaliation for a U.S. decision to expel 50 Russian diplomats from Washington. ........Moscow welcomes ''the American side's desire to put today's difficult moment in Russian-American relations behind us, and work toward their improvement and development,'' the statement said. ............That was the ''principled and consistent position of Russia and its leadership from the very beginning,'' the statement said. ........Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Wednesday that he spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in a telephone conversation late Tuesday. ............''We would also like to believe that this matter is exhausted and closed, and that we can get back to work and conduct a constructive dialogue on all issues that interest us both, of which there are very many,'' Ivanov told reporters in Moscow.

Americans and Russians need to be able to talk to each other, at many levels in their necessarily complicated, necessarily different sociotechnical systems, so that they can both become more open, productive societies, in their internal dealings, and in interaction -- and so serve the causes of prosperity and peace.

(1 following message)

New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense