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?

rshowalter - 08:33pm Apr 3, 2001 EST (#1955 of 1967)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/03/world/03CND-PUTIN.html Putin Promises New Reforms in Doing Business in Russia by PATRICK E. TYLER ... shows excellent initiatives, so far as I can tell. It sets out to do essential things. Things consistent with increasing the reliability of business dealings with Russia -- cutting the risk discount -- the most essential thing.

Let me only add that Russians, as people, have SO MUCH to offer - so much more than they're getting to use now - that the possibilities for growth and renewed prosperity are very great.

On issues of complex cooperation, you need to improve skills.

Leadership in finding peace for the world, and in getting rid of nuclear weapons, is very strongly in the economic interest of Russia. It would build good will -- something that Russia needs.

Russia has an essential advantage in the world -- it is not America -- it is deeply "unAmerican."

There ought to be many places where that can be a strength, if your nation can learn to INTERFACE with America and the west, and yet maintain your national integrity.

There are many billions of people who need to do just that. Russia, under Putin, may be able to lead the way -- and do a service to itself, to the world -- and the western Europe and the US, as well.

You have plenty of work at home in order to do this, and it looks like you know that very well.

almarst-2001 - 11:33pm Apr 3, 2001 EST (#1956 of 1967)

Pacific Forum: Running Out of Time - http://www.csis.org/pacfor/pac0112.htm

almarst-2001 - 11:35pm Apr 3, 2001 EST (#1957 of 1967)

The Rogue State Doctrine and National Missile Defense - http://www.cato.org/pubs/fpbriefs/fpb-065es.html

almarst-2001 - 11:40pm Apr 3, 2001 EST (#1958 of 1967)

A NEW COLD WAR IN THE MAKING?

by Srdja Trifkovic After a lean decade Cold War junkies are getting their fix again. During his Senate confirmation hearing (January 17) Colin Powell declared that Russia's objections should not be an obstacle to further NATO enlargement or to the development of National Missile Defense. On February 10 National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice told Le Figaro that she "sincerely believed" Russia was a threat to the West. Last Wednesday (February 14) Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld attacked Russia on PBS as "an active proliferator" of missile technology, saying that Moscow had no right to challenge U.S. plans for a missile defense system because of its arms sales to "countries like Iran and North Korea and India" which threatened not only their regional neighbors but also "the United States and Western Europe and countries in the Middle East."

- http://www.rockfordinstitute.org/News/Trifkovic/NewsST022101.htm

almarst-2001 - 11:41pm Apr 3, 2001 EST (#1959 of 1967)

IN EUROPE, AT LEAST, NMD DEBATE CONTINUES

by Srdja Trifkovic National Missile Defense remains a highly contentious issue in Washington’s relations with both Moscow and Western Europe, even though the magnitude of transatlantic disagreement is not reflected in the U.S. media coverage of the story. The new administration appears determined to go ahead with the first stage of NMD deployment, and the remaining areas of disagreement seem to be technical: should this be a land-based system, a sea-borne system, or perhaps a hybrid that may have a satellite-based component--a true "Son of Star Wars"?

- http://www.rockfordinstitute.org/News/Trifkovic/NewsST021301.htm

almarst-2001 - 11:49pm Apr 3, 2001 EST (#1960 of 1967)

Dialogue needed to avoid a new Cold War - http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/analysis/story/0,1870,34412,00.html?

almarst-2001 - 12:03am Apr 4, 2001 EST (#1961 of 1967)

Dark Side of Rev. Moon - http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/moon.html

The Bush-Kim-Moon Triangle of Money - http://www.consortiumnews.com/031001a.html

At odds over North Korea, George W. Bush and South Korean President Kim Dae Jung have one thing in common: behind the scenes, both have benefited from Rev. Sun Myung Moon's largesse. By Robert Parry. March 10, 2001

lunarchick - 04:02am Apr 4, 2001 EST (#1962 of 1967)
lunarchick@www.com

The Chinese Way
By Chalmers Johnson

lunarchick - 04:25am Apr 4, 2001 EST (#1963 of 1967)
lunarchick@www.com

Most important, there is a seemingly unbridgeable gap between Mr Putin's reformist words on the economy and his political deeds, which drag Russia back into the Brezhnevite past. Russia's behaviour in Chechnya has been nothing short of horrific. This week, Human Rights Watch described as "a charade" the Russian investigation of a mass grave of 50 bodies found near a military base. Human Rights Watch rightly noted, too, "the international community's utter failure to hold Russia to its international obligations during this conflict". Mr Putin fatuously claimed yesterday that the Chechnya war was almost won (where have we heard that before?), even while the number of dead increases daily. http://argument.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/story.jsp?story=64695

(4 following messages)

New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense