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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?

lunarchick - 10:36pm Jun 6, 2001 EST (#4534 of 4546)
lunarchick@www.com

I heard a broadcast that seemed to say a Queen and Putin were banqueting together ... she talked of the need for a framework of law and freedom of the press ... it said how smart and dapper he .. she wore an Orange dress.

lunarchick - 10:48pm Jun 6, 2001 EST (#4535 of 4546)
lunarchick@www.com

Reflecting back on this board, 'can't help myself' :)
it's seen the downfall of two American Presidents
.. one ran right out of time;
the other suffers inch by inch decline,
had wings by China clipped to fit
.. as plane went home in Russian Ship,
and now the guy is lower in opinion polls
.. yet that's no sin!
Next into Europe he'll sojourn
.. and follow Clinton turn by turn
... yet Clinton knows of Dillan Thomas
- the meaning of his verse
... leaving Bwsh with
Dillan Bob and guitar to rehearse!
I wonder what the PR depts will dig up for the Bwsh visit then
... bookies odds at 500-1 Blair will still be home at number 10.

possumdag - 11:31pm Jun 6, 2001 EST (#4536 of 4546)
Possumdag@excite.com

http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2001/06/06/News/News.27628.html

A cheap, lightweight construction system popular in the 1980s which uses metal plates and thin layers of cement, Pal-Kal was banned by the Israel Standards Institute in 1996, because it does not meet the required safety standards The Jerusalem Municipality contends that it did not carry out the checks since it had no way of knowing which buildings were built in this fashion. The municipality has also said that the director-general of the Interior Ministry, who issued the 1998 directive had no authority to do so.

possumdag - 11:47pm Jun 6, 2001 EST (#4537 of 4546)
Possumdag@excite.com

http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/governance/

rshowalter - 08:14am Jun 7, 2001 EST (#4538 of 4546)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Anyone who feels hopeless about better resolutions about nuclear and military balances, or global warming, might be interested in the details set out in todays lead article:

. Panel Tells Bush Global Warming Is Getting Worse by KATHARINE Q. SEELYE with ANDREW C. REVKIN http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/07/science/07WARM.html?pagewanted=all

That article is especially interesting, I feel, in light of what we know about human groups -- how, if they share the same "facts" -- and keep talking -- they come to common views. Because they do, we must become more clear, and more serious, about how crucial common knowledge about fact is:

. Adding Up the Costs of Cyberdemocracy by ALEXANDER STILLE http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/02/technology/02INTE.html

If people, and the interacting, complex sociotechnical systems in which people live, could get facts straight more often -- many accomodations, that elude us now, would be possible.

And many tragedies, fiascos, and other ugly things could be avoided.

Checking is key -- and in my opionino it needs, when the stakes are big enough - to be an accepted moral and practical obligation NOT TO LIE about information which other people will have to use for consequential decisions. Benign fictions may make life graceful and livable, but deceptions that cause people to lose money, or chances are not.

Deceptions that cause pain, waste, and death are morally wrong -- and there are too many of them. Such deceptions are standard procedure in military organizations -- and, too often, in the statements and testimony of military officers and military contractors.

Checking is getting easier than it used to be, for technical reasons. The political risks of lying in public, on the basis that "the public will never remember these details" may be much greater than they've been in the near future.

md3677 rshowalter 5/11/01 7:57am . . . md3678 rshowalter 5/11/01 8:04am
md3679 rshowalter 5/11/01 8:08am . . . md3680 rshowalter 5/11/01 8:15am
md 3681 rshowalter 5/11/01 8:17am . . . md 3682 rshowalter 5/11/01 8:20am

(8 following messages)

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