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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?

lunarchick - 01:55am Apr 13, 2001 EST (#2201 of 2215)
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on BUSH

lunarchick - 03:04am Apr 13, 2001 EST (#2202 of 2215)
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Chinese poker Apr 12th 2001 From The Economist Global Agenda

lunarchick - 09:24am Apr 13, 2001 EST (#2203 of 2215)
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Showalter, a Chinese Beijing Professor, just interviewed re the Spy Plane said

"You know there is a saying in China 'don't do unto others what you wouldn't want done to yourself' .. he said that the young Chinese knew about the spy plane from foreign internet sources .. and because of this the Government had to act in reponse to their expectations and demands"

The GOLDEN RULE

lunarchick - 09:28am Apr 13, 2001 EST (#2204 of 2215)
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The golden rule (from above) is best interpreted as saying: "Treat others only in ways that you're willing to be treated in the same exact situation." To apply it, you'd imagine yourself in the exact place of the other person on the receiving end of the action. If you act in a given way toward another, and yet are unwilling to be treated that way in the same circumstances, then you violate the rule.

To apply the golden rule adequately, we need knowledge and imagination. We need to know what effect our actions have on the lives of others. And we need to be able to imagine ourselves, vividly and accurately, in the other person's place on the receiving end of the action. With knowledge, imagination, and the golden rule, we can progress far in our moral thinking.

The golden rule is best seen as a consistency principle. It doesn't replace regular moral norms. It isn't an infallible guide on which actions are right or wrong; it doesn't give all the answers. It only prescribes consistency - that we not have our actions (toward another) be out of harmony with our desires (toward a reversed situation action). It tests our moral coherence. If we violate the golden rule, then we're violating the spirit of fairness and concern that lie at the heart of morality.

The golden rule, with roots in a wide range of world cultures, is well suited to be a standard to which different cultures could appeal in resolving conflicts. As the world becomes more and more a single interacting global community, the need for such a common standard is becoming more urgent.

lunarchick - 09:30am Apr 13, 2001 EST (#2205 of 2215)
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Ah .. so 'empathy' falls under The Golden Rule!

lunarchick - 09:35am Apr 13, 2001 EST (#2206 of 2215)
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Ethics - global

A new global ethics Global ethics in global governance

Many elements of a global ethics are now absent from global governance. Several important institutions of global governance -- particularly the Bretton Woods institutions -- cannot claim much democratic legitimacy because they are based on the formula "one dollar, one vote," rather than on the consensus of the people. Nor are the rich nations willing to accept the same moral principles they recommend so eloquently to the poor nations. For example, laundering of drug money through the banking system is rightly condemned, while Western banks quietly accept vast sums of corrupt money from the officials of poor nations. They make a handsome profit on it, while their politicians criticize the poor nations for corrupt practices. Even the burden of structural adjustment is passed on almost entirely to poor countries, while the rich strongly resist any cuts in their high consumption standards. Market principles are advocated in all fields except in the use of the global commons, such as the global environment, where the rich nations use up over 80 per cent of the environmental resources without paying for them. Concrete suggestions for remedying this situation are made in the International Agenda.

lunarchick - 09:51am Apr 13, 2001 EST (#2207 of 2215)
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China:GoldenRule

lunarchick - 09:59am Apr 13, 2001 EST (#2208 of 2215)
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Almost 100 years: The depot contains 16,000 British, German and French projectiles.

Some are believed to contain mustard gas, which causes internal bleeding and blindness, destroying victims' lungs in a slow death

lunarchick - 10:05am Apr 13, 2001 EST (#2209 of 2215)
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_1275000/1275574.stm USA give black marks to Bush re his handling of the China Spy-Plane issue.

lunarchick - 10:14am Apr 13, 2001 EST (#2210 of 2215)
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Gagarin - 40 years on

On the 40th anniversary of his flight, Russians can look back with pride - but also reflect how times have changed.

Gagarin's shy smile, which once adorned the walls of the Mir space station, comes from the era of a command economy in which space was to serve the military and boost national prestige.

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