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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?

almarst-2001 - 09:18pm May 15, 2001 EST (#3960 of 3989)

gisterme 5/15/01 8:41pm

"Should be some objective parameter or parameters of the human condition that can be quantifiably measured for ANY population. Might be a mix of economic ratios, health statistics and birth/mortality data or some such. Build a database over time then correlate trends to a timeline that reflects changes in leadership for all the populations. Something like that. That kind of database would probably foster all sorts of ideas to show relative conditions of all the populations and current trends. Might also show some interesting things about what happens in human terms when diverse populations interact or how one population is affected by changes in leadership in an adjacent population. Can't see that such a thing would tell us much we can't see with our eyes, but it might be a statistical method to remove some of the subjective emotional fog that seems to appear when people are really suffering. By applying the same technique to past populations, one might learn to predict the future ascendance of Hitler-like figures based on current trends. "

What do you think those measures would tell on the direction the Russia has taken after the end of the Communism?

Never mind...I see you already have changed your mind;)

possumdag - 10:39pm May 15, 2001 EST (#3961 of 3989)
Possumdag@excite.com

Looking at leadership there's the management aspect http://www.bpubs.com/Management_Science/Leadership/ the power to reward, to coerce, and the power to order

possumdag - 10:50pm May 15, 2001 EST (#3962 of 3989)
Possumdag@excite.com

The Process of Great Leadership

The road to great leadership (5) (common to successful leaders):

Challenge the process - First, find a process that you believe needs to be improved the most.

Inspire a shared vision - Next, share you vision in words that can be understood by your followers.

Enable others to act - Give them the tools and methods to solve the problem.

Model the way - When the process gets tough, get your hands dirty. A boss tells others what to do...a leader shows it can be done.

Encourage the heart - Share the glory with your followers' heart, keep the pains in your heart.

possumdag - 04:24am May 16, 2001 EST (#3963 of 3989)
Possumdag@excite.com

Not everyone was so ready to go to the execution chamber. Mr Willett's worst experience was Gary Graham, a prisoner executed last year for a murder he swore to the end he did not commit. His execution became a focal point for opposition to capital punishment.

Part of the media scrutiny was a function of the presidential election. Governor Bush was standing for the White House, and his enthusiastic embrace of the death penalty was seen by his opponents as a weakness. He deflected all criticism by insisting that none of the 152 people killed on his watch had been innocent. Mr Willett lacks all such glib certainties. see

zxw2001 - 10:58am May 16, 2001 EST (#3964 of 3989)

ZXW xr1994@yahoo.com, http://geocities.com/xr1994 May 16, 2001 10.55 am I really can not understand why some people condemn NMD of US, but never condemn other countries who continuely develop missiles and threat other countries using missiles. Why?

zxw2001 - 11:06am May 16, 2001 EST (#3965 of 3989)

xr1994@yahoo.com http://geocities.com/xr1994

I really can not understand, why some people condemn NMD of US strongly but never condemn other countries who continuely develop missiles and threat other countries using missiles!

zxw2001 - 11:15am May 16, 2001 EST (#3966 of 3989)

xr1994@yahoo.com, http://geocities.com/xr1994

I really can not understand why some people condemn NMD of US strongly but never condemn some countries who continuely develop missiles and threat other countries using missiles!

rshowalter - 11:16am May 16, 2001 EST (#3967 of 3989)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Because now we have a mess.

NMD is feared because, if it worked, or if it destabilized treaties, it would upset a balance of terror.

Because the idea that missiles are "all right" is abroad, and precedents have been set, more and more of these menaces get made. Countries are thought to have "a right" to them. Missiles are terrible when they kill with conventional explosives, and far more terrible because they can carry nukes, or bio-weapons.

We need to work to get these things under control.

We need to reduce threats.

Some degree of international control, and international force, is going to be necessary, and that will take some improved communication, and some workable agreements, backed by more consensus than we have now.

I'm afraid that, if the US keeps escalating its military power, already so disproportionately large, the rest of the world will have many nations that escalate their threats, too.

If the US is working effectively to reduce its threats to other nations (in reality and as other nations percieve the threats) it may be possible to get this situation to be safer than it now is.

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