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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 - 09:23pm Jun 20, 2001 EST (#5607 of 5636)
lunarchick@www.com

We have an interesting tv doco on Putin coming up .. you guys will have already seen it ... from the ad there was the distinct impression that Putin wasn't born with a silver spoon (read oil well) in his mouth ... must have made his way up using grey-matter .. says he's a believer in 'socialism' .. will be interested in seeing the full documentary.

capitalism, mixed economy, socialism ... mean different things to different people socialism (USA) there is a difference between socialism and totalitarianism, wonder what the ideal of socialism is .. perhaps includes health/education/aspects of communications

rshowalter - 09:26pm Jun 20, 2001 EST (#5608 of 5636)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I meant this as a response. It start's gisterme's right ....
MD5567 rshowalter 6/20/01 6:16pm

rshowalter - 09:27pm Jun 20, 2001 EST (#5609 of 5636)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

A problem is, that once " somebody starts it" there seems little regard for civilian (or random) casualties that get inflicted.

Almarst surely objects to that. I do, too.

___

lunarchick - 09:29pm Jun 20, 2001 EST (#5610 of 5636)
lunarchick@www.com

Alex never said s/he was a she ... everyone in Boston lookout for a cross-dresser grandparent :)

rshowalter - 09:29pm Jun 20, 2001 EST (#5611 of 5636)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

And the logic of "who starts it" is always subject to different constructions.

Did the Vietnamese "start it" ?

--

how often did any of the Vietnamese killed have anything to do with "starting it?"

In "geopolitics" it doesn't seem to matter - or even be considered -- but if the US is to focus on what concerns other nations -- this issue matters.

rshowalter - 09:31pm Jun 20, 2001 EST (#5612 of 5636)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

When Thomas Friedman uses the following language about Kissinger

" that he can sometimes make Machievelli seem like one of the Sisters of Mercy ..."

then there is reason to believe that there's a problem.

lunarchick - 09:37pm Jun 20, 2001 EST (#5613 of 5636)
lunarchick@www.com

Vietnam JFk ColdWar

lunarchick - 09:49pm Jun 20, 2001 EST (#5614 of 5636)
lunarchick@www.com

http://www.lib.odu.edu/anss/cold_war.htm http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/graff.html http://www.nytimes.com/pages/weekinreview/index.html http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/17/weekinreview/17EAST.html

rshowalter - 10:03pm Jun 20, 2001 EST (#5615 of 5636)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD919 rshowalter 3/11/01 7:40am DERELICTION OF DUTY: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies that Led to Vietnam. by H.R. McMaster

Much information is now coming to light about the Nixon administration, and Henry Kissenger and his co-workers, that indicates that such problems, and serious consequences from them, did not end there, and continue to the present day

Perhaps each president had to deal with compromises inherited from the last - along, perhaps, with a necessity to dissemble about what had been done, and how it constrained action.

rshowalter - 10:06pm Jun 20, 2001 EST (#5616 of 5636)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

When, after the fall of the Soviet Union -- it was time to tear some Cold War apparatus down -- to give a chance for a New Russia to grow without continued threats slowing things down -- somehow, it didn't happen.

If it happened now, so that it actually worked for the Russians - - - then all sorts of possibilities for real peace would open up.

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