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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 - 05:17pm May 29, 2001 EST (#4290 of 4466)

Three Reasons -- What Went Wrong - http://www.consortiumnews.com/050101a.html

"Three recent news events shed light on what went wrong with American democracy over the past half century, as the nation compromised its principles -- and implicated young men like Bob Kerrey in atrocities -- all for the Cold War."

Who thinks its all history and not still a reality?

almarst-2001 - 05:20pm May 29, 2001 EST (#4291 of 4466)

Robert,

As it seems apparent the US media is deeply involved in lies, can you think of a reason for such dishonor and shame?

rshowalt - 05:22pm May 29, 2001 EST (#4292 of 4466)

The CASE has to be made -- and made with enough repetition, subject to enough crossexamination - that the truth ceases to be "somehow too weak" -- and stands.

And these references are constructive.

Perhaps the radical right wing groups that have now subverted the Republican policy, and by the skin of their teeth, and aided by election fraud, taken control of the presidency - have good ways to make alternatives that can stand up to crossexamination - in front of many people all over the world, under circumstances where facts can be checked.

almarst-2001 - 05:26pm May 29, 2001 EST (#4293 of 4466)

rshowalt 5/29/01 5:22pm

Robert,

What makes you to believe its just a "right wing" problem?

I see it as an American problem, left-to-right and front-to-back. Please show me the difference, if you can.

possumdag - 05:26pm May 29, 2001 EST (#4294 of 4466)
Possumdag@excite.com

The film footage of the girl on fire (Vietnam) spoke a thousand words of peace to the world !

almarst-2001 - 05:27pm May 29, 2001 EST (#4295 of 4466)

Repeat:

Credible Deception - http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/jared/sudan.html by Jared Israel

"Credible Deception was the first article written for what has become Emperor's Clothes. It analyzes the methods used to deceive the American people about the bombing of a pill factory in Sudan in 1998. By carefully examining techniques used to deceive, it helps readers see through government/media lies aimed at covering up an ever-increasing list of Imperial crimes, from NATO's responsibility for terror in southern Serbia (they train the terrorists, then they express shock when the same terrorists blow up Serb buses) to Baghdad (just bombed by U.S. and British warplanes in "self defense"!) to the attempt to cover up criminal negligence in the sinking of the Ehime Maru."

almarst-2001 - 05:30pm May 29, 2001 EST (#4296 of 4466)

possumdag 5/29/01 5:26pm

"The film footage of the girl on fire (Vietnam) spoke a thousand words of peace to the world !"

Apparently the money speaks louder.

rshowalt - 05:32pm May 29, 2001 EST (#4297 of 4466)

Yes. I'm afraid I can. Some of the reasons are innocent -- some less so. When I was much younger, I spent many, many months looking at the way the Nazis bought young academics in Germany -- paid them and praised them consistently -- and were able have the forces of the "big lie" out-argue the forces of decency. It really worked. In Germany, it seemed that academics would say anything that they would be paid and praised to say.

The pattern of support of right wing think tanks, and any academics willing to take a radically right wing line on any subject -- looks very similar -- and I know that, from the late 50's to middle 70's, it was intentional.

Has our intellectual culture been subverted? We live in a land of some intellectual diversity --- still, in significant ways, it has. And certain people with unbeatable combinations of traits -- black radical right wing people, for instance, have been able to write their own tickets (at least if they worked hard.) Up against most academics, they've been able to get away with anything.

A big question of fact is --

i How much untraceable money, stolen from classified military sources -- has been used to subvert our society?

I think the answer has to be "a lot." The more, the more understandable some of the current nightmare is. Just a little money, applied again and again - to motivate academics and journalists and advertisers -- how effectively one can swing an argument!

rshowalt - 05:47pm May 29, 2001 EST (#4298 of 4466)

almast , before I answer your incisive and wrenching question in a long way, let me give you a short answer -- the right wingers, backed by the US government, worked to subvert one part of the US culture, taking some pains not to subvert much of the rest. So, in ways that matter most to you, the US probably is lamentably homogeneous. But America has a lot of good, too, and though I know it may be an effort for you to imagine it - it would be good if you could remember this - without forgetting the bad parts at all.

Now, let me "give the devil her due."

MD4284: gisterme 5/29/01 4:06pm

gisterme , we aren't in perfect agreement on all subjects. But, if the degree of disarmament is great enough, I certainly agree with you when you say:

" If the BMD proposal leads to significant strategic disarmament, I'd call that success, even if there's no deployment."

If nuclear disarmament is great enough and military balances are sensible otherwise, I'd call that a success, too. And, compared to the statis of the Clinton administration -- the dialog is moving along.

So long as negotiations can be based on facts rather than lies , some reasonable accomodations may in fact be possible. I think a great deal is possible now. MD has the whole world so riled up, that people are looking seriously at how to arrange peace.

That could redeem a lot. Though, alas, I have some doubts as to whether right actions will be taken.

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