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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 - 06:43am Apr 20, 2001 EST (#2415 of 2417)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I feel that, for discussions of press function, and for many other reasons, including essential issues involving war and nuclear terror, we'd be more human and humane if we acknowledged complexity and its difficulties, as they relate to the very practical issues of truth and justice.

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rshowalter - 06:58am Apr 20, 2001 EST (#2416 of 2417)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

The Chinese government knows the value of truth, and can set out, eloquently, the importance of truth rshowalter 4/18/01 11:42am in fine articles such as http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200104/18/eng20010418_67992.html

Yet she does not, herself, report stories that may be embarrassing about Chinese behavior. In part at least, because journalists, all over the world, want to please their readers, and entertain them, not make them too uncomfortable.

Any country will be subject to some criticism of this kind. Perfection in this regard will never occur, and could never even be defined workably. But it is, and will always be, important to make efforts to keep score here. And important, on all sides, to acknowlege that insincerity and incomplete presentation of reality are not only characteristics of the other guy.

Chinese Raid Defiant Village, Killing 2, Amid Rural Unrest by ERIK ECKHOLM

Americans have many good, valid reasons to be uncomfortable with social and press arrangements in Russia and China, and our own imperfections don't take away our right to those reasons.

rshowalter - 08:05am Apr 20, 2001 EST (#2417 of 2417)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I think that To Tell the Truth by THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/20/opinion/20FRIE.html ... is superb , and a distinct public service.

It ends:

" Everyone is now asking, "When will Colin Powell start to mediate?" The real question is when will he stop umpiring and start telling the unvarnished truth to all sides, which is the only thing that can rebuild the foundation of any peace."

I'd only add that the people involved will have to be able to accomodate the truth -- not only the truths about their enemies, which they often understand well, but also truths about themselves.

To do that, a workable golden rule (a notion that exists in all cultures) is practically necessary.

For the golden rule ( http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@@.ee7ec3f/217 ) to be workable in the emotionally and intellectually challenging places where it fails, something else may be necessary, too. A clear notion of "disciplined beauty" - a notion of balance and proportion fit to context, where things can be both beautiful and ugly, reasonable and unreasonable, depending on points of view that can be simultaneously understood. rshowalter 2/9/01 1:53pm

And for beautiful, or even tolerable solutions, the search for beauty must be based on facts that can be checked, including facts about ourselves as human animals. rshowalter 4/14/01 10:08am

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