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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?

mazza9 - 12:04pm Jun 20, 2001 EST (#5538 of 5542)

I suppose that we could hurl the malarky that has been posted on this thread into the air and we would form an impenetrable shield through which no missile could transit.

On the other hand the gas dynamic lasers that are to be mounted on 747s can, in all likelihood, knock down missiles in a theater environment and maybe even for continental defense.

I've listened to many pols and pundits talk about the cost of missile defense. Allison, a "mere" tropical storm, caused over $2 billion in Houston. The total toll for this storm as it progressed eastward and up the east coast is probably twice that. What might a 20 kiloton airburst, (Hiroshima size), over Times Square cost? My Guess $10 Trillion, (given the value of the loss of one of the major financial centers)and that doesn';t even count in Newark and Tony Soprano's holdings!

Is missile defense worth it? You tell me.

LouMazza

rshowalter - 12:24pm Jun 20, 2001 EST (#5539 of 5542)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

If you read the thread, the reasons almarst objects to missile defense involve issues of background and motivation --- if these issues were dealt with adequately -- that is, adequately for Russia and other nations -- then missile defense wouldn't be a very difficult issue to resolve.

Missile defense would also be very much less needed -- because the US would be less hated, and more able to defend itself from monsters in ways that require the wholehearted cooperation of many other nations.

rshowalter - 12:25pm Jun 20, 2001 EST (#5540 of 5542)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD5392 rshowalter 6/18/01 7:43pm . . . MD5393 rshowalter 6/18/01 7:44pm
MD5394 rshowalter 6/18/01 7:44pm

Patterns I saw, and others saw, in the politics of the Bush presidency, referred to a TIMES editorial as a "bait and switch" concern me a great deal.

Situations as set out in many NYT stories make me worry about the NAZI connection a good deal. Perhaps this one as much as any:

- In Virginia, Young Conservatives Learn How to Develop and Use Their Political Voices by Blaine Harden http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/11/politics/11CONS.html

I think that particular piece should be read very carefully -- and carefully followed up, both by journalists, and political professionals.

And concerns about the "good will" of the right wing of the Republican party on these matters must be tempered on some of the things they do. Positions of the "strangelove lobby" in Congress, referred to in the story below concern me, and may concern others.

Useful Legacy of Nuclear Treaty: Global Earphones by WILLIAM J. BROAD http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/19/science/19NUKE.html

MD5396 rshowalter 6/18/01 7:48pm

rshowalter - 12:26pm Jun 20, 2001 EST (#5541 of 5542)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

On January 17, 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his FAREWELL ADRESS http://www.geocities.com/~newgeneration/ikefw.htm

I believe that fixing the things he warned about, which have gone uncontrolled for forty years, needs doing.

If we do it, then I believe that the possibilities of peace, in the interest of all countries, are very great. I think that both the heads, and the populations, of many other nations would agree.

rshowalter - 12:34pm Jun 20, 2001 EST (#5542 of 5542)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

The Encyclopedia Britannica website had a very interesting and extensive set of reports on the question "Is Kissinger a War Criminal?" -- including some references at the University of Texas that have been removed -- notably a letter to President Ford where Kissinger answered the question "whether the American people should be ashamed of Vietnam". I found that letter interesting reading, and others might as well.

Although Kissinger may be admirable in many other ways, it seems to me that these things ought not to be forgotten, or suppressed.

I also believe that the influence of Kissinger and his proteges on Republican foreign policy ought to be remembered.

Freidman thinks that Kissinger has valid things to say on many subjects, but is incomplete. I think that's exactly right, as far as it goes.

But some of the areas of incompleteness, where, in Friedman's words, Kissenger

" makes Machiavelli look like one of the sisters of mercy . . "

can reasonably concern people like almarst , and leaders of nation states, when issues of military, and especially nuclear, balances are discussed.

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