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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?

possumdag - 06:48pm May 7, 2001 EST (#3442 of 3480)
Possumdag@excite.com

Showalter: sounds as if 'people' have an expectation as to how government behaves - that it often doesn't meet decent standards is something too disconcerting to be considered ?

And yet Amrican History is littered with these exceptions - the feast for writers and movie makers.

locally - I've noted a lot of people push their way up in politics who don't have a 'moral and ethical personal-dimension framework' and some of them have high crime rates with respect to non-respect for the personal space and rights of others.

Church staffers have also abused their postion of power

rshowalter - 06:50pm May 7, 2001 EST (#3443 of 3480)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

The way Americans look and act as private individuals is usually fine -- the way the American government has acted, especially in their military threats, particularly with nuclear weapons, has been horrific.

possumdag - 07:01pm May 7, 2001 EST (#3444 of 3480)
Possumdag@excite.com

All's fair in love and war - http://home.eol.ca/~buzzcorr/ALL'S%20FAIR%20IN%20LOVE%20&%20WAR%20-%20LINGO.htm

~ http://lovespot.s-one.net.sg/lquotes.htm http://www.utas.edu.au/docs/flonta/DP,2,2,96/CONTENT.html

rshowalter - 07:03pm May 7, 2001 EST (#3445 of 3480)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

The extraconstitutional aspects bother me a great deal, too. How many politicians, and voters, would have signed on to what was done -- had they know the truth? Very few, I believe.

The Soviet threat was radically, vastly, systematically overblown, and huge financial resources, that could have been spent for something else- instead went to the military-industrial complex -- for what?

For "victory" in a war that may not have had to be fought, on anything like the same terms, at all -- given more respect for american institutions that were subverted.

With injuries - including injuries after 1991 that had no justification at all, that make one want to turn one's head away -- that were very serious for the whole world -- and especially for Russia.

And millions of people probably died unnecessarily, and many millions have had their lives blighted.

gisterme - 07:03pm May 7, 2001 EST (#3446 of 3480)

rshowalter wrote: "...And how do you think missile defense looks in light of this history..."

I think missile defense looks great in that light. THE WAR IS OVER! Let's get rid of our nukes and hope mankind never has to go to war again...And Robert, PUHleez quit judging wartime actions by peacetime standards.

Let's re-hash this one more time. The US was on one side in a war against the Soviet Union in order to liberate Soviet occupied Eastern Europe. The chronicle of the battles in that war are very nicely laid out in "Threats to Use Nuclear Weapons" (your earlier post). In those synopses you can see the move-countermove actions taken by both sides, including brandishing nuclear weapons in those tactical situations. You can also see the step-by-step progress of the process that ultimately lead to the liberation of Eastern Europe. There was a strategy and it worked. The war is over. Eastern Europe is free. But that was then, this is now. We're at peace now. Keep apples with apples and oranges with oranges. We need to move on.

possumdag - 07:05pm May 7, 2001 EST (#3447 of 3480)
Possumdag@excite.com

There have been 240 wars since 1945.

rshowalter - 07:08pm May 7, 2001 EST (#3448 of 3480)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

We do need to move on. With what happened understood.

If the current administration actually wants to make peace it should do so -- not perpetrate a shuck - a technical fraud that can't work -- while polarizing the whole world for no good purposes I can see but to conceal past lies, and enrich a military-industrial complex that has nothing valid to do.

rshowalter - 07:08pm May 7, 2001 EST (#3449 of 3480)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Or at least, nothing valid to do for missile defense projects that can't work.

possumdag - 07:11pm May 7, 2001 EST (#3450 of 3480)
Possumdag@excite.com

Brings us back to the questions:
'What is war?'
Why are wars allowed to happen
Wars bring Change, could that change have happened by peaceful means?
Do the old redundant mindsets of pre-war situation have to be overturned via chaos and violence
Is a post war situation a poorer but better situation
What is LEADERSHIP with a country?
Why can't decent leadership be allowed to 'rise' without war?
Why can't the needed economic investment happen without a war bringing an economy and national mindset to a head?
Do people have more/thesame/less freedom after a war?
Are wars really necessary?

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