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    Missile Defense

Technology has always found its greatest consumer in a nation's war and defense efforts. Since the last attempts at a "Star Wars" defense system, has technology changed considerably enough to make the latest Missile Defense initiatives more successful? Can such an application of science be successful? Is a militarized space inevitable, necessary or impossible?

Read Debates, a new Web-only feature culled from Readers' Opinions, published every Thursday.


Earliest Messages Previous Messages Recent Messages Outline (11888 previous messages)

gisterme - 03:02am Feb 27, 2002 EST (#11889 of 11896)

lchic 2/18/02 10:34pm

"...Gisterme and Showalter are now agreed that truthfulness is honorable and a desired goal in every sense including Accounting..."

HahahahaAHhhhh! Thanks for the belly-laugh, lchic! God knows I need it. But how in the world have you forgotten that it's Bob who seems to keep dishing up the whoppers!

Haaaahahahahaha. Agreed indeed. :-) You're slick, 'chic. HeeHeee. If Robert has set acheiving truthfulness as a goal, (ah, confession is good for the soul) he doesn't seem to be making much progress toward it so far. I admit I haven't been keeping up with the board for a while. Maybe he's had a change of heart. Whatever is the case, if that's his goal, I wish him the best in his quest...but I do wish he'd hurry up. :-)

lchic - 10:01am Feb 27, 2002 EST (#11890 of 11896)

A nine day wonder 18feb-27feb ... GI has caught up with the board!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HERE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT POST ON THIS THREAD!

The COLD WAR is OVER, but it hasn't ENDED?

One thought is that male leaders see phallic missiles as a STATUS symbol
.. a we have Nukes
.. look and see
... ours are 'more' than yours
.. a talking point
... along with the message don't trespass in my backyard

The raw materials for missiles comes from Nuclear Power ... such a plant has a 25yr working life, and it's waste products a forever afterlife.

When Nuclear Plants are 'offered for sale' - there are NO buyers! Private Industry understands the cost of a HALF LIFE, the cost of pollution, the cost of being sued by those with failing health via contact with the contamination from nuclear materials.

Check the SEAS and LANDS of the world for the nuclear pollution problem -- not a pretty scene!

The problem regarding Nuclear matters is - non holistic accounting systems. The full cost is not understood. The cost is past on to generations as yet unborn.

Nuke Missiles are halfway to being genuine antiques .. that's a one century haul and they're now half-qualified.

Antiques are 'antiquated technology' ... look at this in terms of sound recordings .. the cylinder, the one-sided disk, the two sided-disk, the EP, LP ... the CD ... the DVD ... >>> any advancement

Missiles are 'dangerous antiques' ....

When something is dangerous, and threateningly so, then, those within range of such a danger ought to actively sue the holding State -- or make that State via international pressure PAY insurance premiums that would cover the true costs to those on whom such an antique atrocity might be launched.

The enforcement of the payment of insurance via international sanctions ........

would lead to the nations taking missiles down

Note: that 2/3rds of the planet is covered by an interlinked (now polluted) sea!

Were a band of people wanting to take missiles down - just for the hell of it ... then it needs a Wynne* wave of GUT aversion in the National general voter-ships to get leaders to do this ... or, if leaders had LEADERSHIP then they would take down their missiles ... and preface every international communication with a reference to remind others - the remainging laughingstock - to take missiles down.

Statistically there have been and will continue to be nuclear accidents - they are 'unaffordable' .. Nukes should be TAKEN DOWN

If the world had REAL Leaders, they'd lead, not procrastinate!

  • Prof Brian Wynne (LancasterU UK)

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    General McArthur
    mAzzA - I've said before (are you 'different people' or don't you read the board?) General McArthur was off his strategic military rocker (MAD) by the end of the war and had to be stopped in his tracks by the USA President who worked out that there are 3million Koreans living through NK in the China zone .. additionally lots of Chinese (now 1.3 billion) in China, who would help the NK's in the Forties to put McArthur down ...

    almarst-2001 - 04:23pm Feb 27, 2002 EST (#11891 of 11896)

    A new regime in Iraq would pose distinct problems for each of the country's neighbours - http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,657833,00.html

    "Taken individually, and given sufficient attention, most of these issues can be contained and perhaps even resolved. But taken together - as they would have to be following the overthrow of Saddam - they become a daunting problem that could tax even America's resources. While these issues were being dealt with, we would also have to rely on the rest of the world to stay obligingly quiet ... on the remains of al-Qaida to behave themselves, and on the new Afghan government not to fall apart.

    It is difficult to know how much of this has been taken on board in Washington, but the signs are not encouraging. The CIA's World Factbook (available on the internet) has the curious and revealing habit of reducing all the world's countries to terms that a former governor of Texas, such as George Bush, can grasp. Thus Syria is described as "larger than North Dakota", Jordan "smaller than Indiana", Iraq "twice the size of Idaho", and so on.

    If only it were so simple. But there's a big difference between changing the regime in Iraq and switching governors in Idaho. "

    almarst-2001 - 04:32pm Feb 27, 2002 EST (#11892 of 11896)

    "The COLD WAR is OVER, but it hasn't ENDED? "

    The Cold War may be over but the establishement of a new Empire (coined as a The New World Order) is not over yet.

    The new frontier is the Central Asian OIL regions and Taiwan - South Chiana Sea OIL reserves and strategic Formose sea passage.

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