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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?

dirac_10 - 01:40pm Jun 24, 2001 EST (#5958 of 5964)

Try to sit still, the resonant waves cause destructive interference with motion. Too much, and the experiment will be pointless, because there will be too little material to resonate. Something of concern to you too.

rshowalter - 01:45pm Jun 24, 2001 EST (#5959 of 5964)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD4481rshowalter 6/4/01 6:23am . . . .

"I hope that it is common ground that we can misunderstand each other in many ways, dislike each other for many reasons, and have much about the past between us that displeases us, and still live in peace. .... We don't have to like each other, either now, or in the future, to live in peace. .....But it is important that we resolve misunderstandings that could lead to fighting, or that get in the way of complex cooperations that would be in our mutual interests.

rshowalter - 01:45pm Jun 24, 2001 EST (#5960 of 5964)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD1080 rshowalter 3/16/01 1:32pm reads in part:

" I was once at a lunch, in Madison, with some distinguished Russian educators. I proposed a toast, thanking the Russian people, whose sacrifices in the Great Patriotic War may well have given me, and others of my American generation, a chance to be born. That toast came from my heart. I personally think the conflict between our coutries has been a great human tragedy. But I can only speak for my own feelings here, not for my country.

rshowalter - 01:46pm Jun 24, 2001 EST (#5961 of 5964)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD4483 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?14@184.fimgahKuqHc^2296254@.f0ce57b/4788...

rshowalter - 01:47pm Jun 24, 2001 EST (#5962 of 5964)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Facts matter a great deal.
MD4485 rshowalter 6/4/01 7:01am cites a VERY interesting article

Laser Project Hits a Snag; Court Hints At Conflict by JAMES GLANZ http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/30/science/30NIF.html

" This court injunction suggests that D.O.E.'s review is not independent and is not even legal," said Senator Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat who opposes the project, referring to the Department of Energy. "We should not continue to pour money into N.I.F. without a rigorous, independent review."

I don't see, personally, how such a review can possibly justify the facility on defense grounds. The physics problems in nuclear weapons are of a mathematical nature that data from the facility, even if it were perfect, would not help with. That shouldn't be hard to show.

Could it be that the entire US military is now engaged in an exercise, much like that suggested for the National Ignition Facility, that is nothing more than a boondoggle?

Could "missions" and "threats" be inflated, or invented, or manufactured for no other reason?

Could this be reinforcing fraud at other levels -- all protected by "expert endorsements" that are not questioned?

It seems to me that the question is worth some attention.

almarst has worried about other interpretations, which are worse, but these questions, which ought to be asked in detail about the US defense budget, are serious enough.

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