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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?

almarst-2001 - 11:53am Apr 6, 2001 EST (#2048 of 2057)

I have a very importand, at least for me question.

Is the International Tribunal for War Crimes in former Yugoslavia in Haage open to the press and public? And, if yes, do you know which press followes and reports on this process?

It seems, the US media, the most vocal supporter of this process, does not cover this at all.

rshowalter - 12:06pm Apr 6, 2001 EST (#2049 of 2057)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

That is an important point !

And there are many other important points.

This morning I made a suggestion -- one I thought moderate and practical -- one that, I felt, could be done in a "logically incremental" way. The suggestion said nothing about press freedom at the level of "what to print" -- but only about freedom to comment about what was broadcast and printed.

It seems to me that it might fit within the constraints (and I have some sense and sympathy for the difficulties of these constraints) that you face -- and it would be an enormous step forward for press freedom -- not incompatible with some prior restraint by other means -- which Russia may well need, or need to consider, for her own reasons.

Anyone who claims American reporters are not subject to de facto prior restraints isn't serious.

. . .

I'm working on more to say...

almarst-2001 - 12:10pm Apr 6, 2001 EST (#2050 of 2057)

"freedom to comment about what was broadcast and printed." -

Take a look at http://www.fair.org

rshowalter - 12:10pm Apr 6, 2001 EST (#2051 of 2057)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

With freedom to comment on articles and broadcasts, with comments preserved on the internet -- you introduce checkable feedback into a system that needs it.

And memory. So that people are responsible for what they say. Your country needs to hold people responsible for what they say. Especially reporters. Statements should not be forgotten.

Not in the US, not in Russia, and not anywhere else -- if the statements are important enough to be printed in a newspaper or broadcast.

almarst-2001 - 12:21pm Apr 6, 2001 EST (#2052 of 2057)

World poor in sale of the 21st century

Democratic rights are a high price to pay for western free trade - http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,469383,00.html

I wonder if Mr. Friedman ever has a second thought?

almarst-2001 - 12:46pm Apr 6, 2001 EST (#2053 of 2057)

This guy, I already posted ones, is very interesting to me - starwolf0 "Chinese Politics" 4/6/01 12:07pm

rshowalter - 12:48pm Apr 6, 2001 EST (#2054 of 2057)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,469383,00.html is a good piece.

Mr Friedman does admirable work sometimes, and is to be respected as the man who has earned "the best job in the world" (by his own account, and the account of some others.)

Those two Pulitzer Prizes are impressive as well - you earn them, you can't steal them.

All the same, Friedman is, like the rest of us "a little lower than the angels."

He's worth listening to, quite often. Never, in my view, is he worth deferring to, on a matter of opionion or checkable fact, when it matters, without independent checking.

Nor should anyone else be "trusted" in that way. We all make errors, and we all speak from incomplete perspectives.

I can see why you're pissed at Friedman, but that doesn't mean he's always wrong, or even often corrupt.

He doesn't speak "the whole truth" in the ways you'd always want. His audience wouldn't listen to him if he did.

These are all reasons why Russia should have a good, INDEPENDENT press, interested in things from a Russian point of view, in Russia's interests.

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