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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 - 10:06pm Apr 18, 2001 EST (#2391 of 2393)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

If only Putin was as perceptive as almarst_2001 he could figure out how to get Russia the empowering guidance that she needs.

Information flows are essential, and the information has to be checkable from many points of view.

For an effective society, that means a free and independent press in the ways that matter for information flow.

But this is clear. Accomodations made have to work for Russia whether they seem ideal or not to "kibbitzers" like us, standing far away and without responsibility.

rshowalter - 10:24pm Apr 18, 2001 EST (#2392 of 2393)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Russia needs, and needs intensely, something that America has -- a sense of common culture that makes the society, when faced with a challenge, work as a coordinated and competent "team".

Years ago, I had the good fortune to be invited to testify before a Senate committee on technology - testifying on the uses of mathematical modeling as one of a number of aids to judgement ( I was glad to be able to do this, since my only formal math credential is a "D" that I got in baby calculus at as a Cornell University undergraduate.) And after the testimony, I was nominated to a Office of Technology Assessment committee on Innovation and Patent Policy -- a committee that was influential in decisions that led to a Patent Re-examination procedure, and the establishing of a Court of Patent Appeals -- changes that made patents worth more than before.

Anyway, as a committee, we ran amok -- because, though we were "packed" to represent conflicting interests, we agreed completely on what we felt needed to be done. And so we decided to go up to Capitol Hill, and talk to the responsible Senators, Representatives, and staffers. This was an outrageous thing for us to do, by some standards.

The head of OTA came in to talk to us, and try to dissuade us. (We paind careful attention to him, but we went ahead.)

Here is what he said:

" In this town, some think that it is all right to do anything that isn't specifically prohibited. But it isn't that easy. There is one standard, one test, that has to apply, to be effective in this town. You have to ask, of whatever you're going to do . . . .

" What would this look like, and how would it be judged, if it was written up, in detail, in THE NEW YORK TIMES. ( I noticed that, though we were in DC, the TIMES was the paper chosen.)

The man went on to emphasize that the point wasn't that our doings would be reported in the paper. The point was that there were community standards, about what was good function, and what wasn't, on which people with enough literacy and stature to be interested in reading the TIMES would agree. And these community standards made for orderly and effecive behavior, and were of compelling practical and moral force.

Russia needs to BUILD such standards -- in ways that work for Russia herself -- in ways that can stand the light of day in Russian terms --and by the standards of others as well. You need an effective journalism to do this -- and it has to be, in significant part, directed with the Russian national interest at heart (something that is assumed about the TIMES, and rightly, a paper that has a public role, though it happens to be in private hands.)

Russia needs to build community standards that are beautiful enough for her -- at least, far less ugly than the chaos often seen in Russia today.

Putin and his people need to see that these standards come into being, and that they are workable and right for Russia. To do this, an effective press is essential. And for the good of Russia, the information that press provides must, most often, be right. And very often checkable. Press freedom is going to be needed for that. For the vitality and crediblity of Russia, this is a vital matter indeed.

rshowalter - 10:29pm Apr 18, 2001 EST (#2393 of 2393)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I'm off till my morning.

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