New York Times on the Web Forums Science

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 - 05:11pm Jun 20, 2001 EST (#5556 of 5559)

I found it amaizing how easy it was for the US to start the bombing compain of a non-agressive country thousends miles away, most Americans probably did not even know (and surelly did not care) existed, its culture, geography, history and even location.

It seems in US it is much harder to open a new school then to blow away one in some other country.

Am I wrong on this account?

rshowalter - 05:36pm Jun 20, 2001 EST (#5557 of 5559)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Almarst , I wish it wasn't so, but it is much easier for Americans to commit murder, of people they know nothing of, by remote control, than to open a new school, or do any number of things that ought to be easy.

So far as I can tell, among many of them, there seems to be no shame at all.

These same people can be almost unbelievably sentimental about something they can see -- and they sometimes help each other dramatically, and effectively.

I know you rejected this idea before, but it still seems to me, and seems to Dawn, that people, who can be kind and good to "people like themselves" can naturally be savage, and brutal, to "outsiders." They naturally lie to, exclude, cheat, and hurt outsiders. I think that's true of Russians, not just Americans. It means we need to negotiate carefully, and communicate, and not trust each other but so much. Mankind's Inhumanity to Man and Woman - As natural as human goodness? http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@@.ee7b085/0 especially entries 1, 2.

We need to learn how to make wars and fights much less likely, and learn to get rid of nuclear weapons, and other horrors, that show mankind at his worst -- and that threaten the survival of the world.

Almarst , I appreciate your comment - and want to say that it seems to me that, for all your justified discomfort and anger, you've had a great humanizing influence on this thread. It is an honor to converse with you.

rshowalter - 05:38pm Jun 20, 2001 EST (#5558 of 5559)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

It is easy to teach an American boy to fly an airplane that drops a bomb that kills a million people, or to push a button that does the same.

And people seem proud of that.

Me, I'm ashamed.

- - - - -

But I think many in the Republican party, under the tradition of Kissinger and gisterme , and the Bushes, are proud of that.

So far as I can tell from what they say and do.

rshowalter - 05:49pm Jun 20, 2001 EST (#5559 of 5559)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

But they'd deter very easily -- have you noticed how upset they get when a few hostages of their own get taken? That was part of the reason that the suggestion I made on this thread, MD266-269, rshowalt 9/25/00 7:32am was crafted as it was.

And now, with changes in technology that cannot be undone, America is very vulnerable -- it is only a dream that America can kill without costs. Americans need to learn that, and make peace.

The rest of the world, crazy and ugly as it is in many ways, would welcome a chance to make peace with the United States, both because the US is so powerful, and also because there are so many good things about the United States, and everybody knows it.

It should be possible for the nations of the world to coordinate themselves enough that the lesson comes home - American should not be able to kill and maim others with impunity, or ignore responsibility for the military violence they commit.

Americans should cease to act like NAZIS, completely disregarding the lives of others "whenever our military interests dictate."

If they did that, missile defense would be fine to pursue, though probably not needed, and surely not justified by risks and probabilities that anyone can show.

We should stop doing the sorts of things we did in Vietnam, and still do today in Latin America, whenever it seems to suit our interest, and we feel nobody is looking.

If other nations insist, we will. It wouldn't be hard to do, I don't believe, with things as they are.

New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense