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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?

rshowalter - 08:17pm Apr 14, 2001 EST (#2247 of 2249)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

If Russia waits for honesty, generosity and self criticism from the United States, she may wait a long time, and she surrenders her national fate, as no nation state can rightly do.

Figure out what makes Russians proud, when they really think about it hard, standing in the real world. What stances are beautiful? Beautiful to you, and explainable and justifiable to others?

You can take responsibility for making the best, including the moral best, out of your situation. And you can reasonably, publicly, ask for the same from others.

That should be a proud enough stance for anyone.

rshowalter - 08:21pm Apr 14, 2001 EST (#2248 of 2249)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

You need Russian solutions to Russian problems, but one way or another, the Russian socio-technical system, as a human team, will work best if it is well informed, and the intelligence and cooperative skills of all can be reasonably used.

America is so rich that she may be able to "afford" a corrupt press -- expensive as that is.

Russia, in her current state, ought to be too short on resources to afford such a luxury.

You need good feedback systems. A free press is essential -- but don't be afraid to let the Russians know what they need to know so that they can work together.

You can reasonably ask that the things you need for a common culture be presented, so cooperation is possible.

rshowalter - 08:27pm Apr 14, 2001 EST (#2249 of 2249)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

And a free press, itself, has to be responsible for telling the truth. A license to print, or a license to broadcast, ought not be a license to lie, for either a government or a private entity.

There are ways of getting responsible conduct from the press that don't restrict its freedom -- and there have to be Russian ways of doing this -- ways that work.

But you need fewer lies in your system, not more of them, if Russia is to become strong, and more respected.

Your personal statements show you know this. Your nation should learn it, at the institutional-operational levels, as well.

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