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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?

rshowalter - 08:49pm Jun 24, 2001 EST (#5975 of 5980)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

There's been much discussion of press bias on this thread, and some reasons why fear on the part of journalists is an issue. It exists in a context.
MD1028 rshowalter 3/15/01 1:43pm ... MD1029 rshowalter 3/15/01 1:45pm
MD1030 almarst-2001 3/15/01 2:19pm .... MD1031 rshowalter 3/15/01 2:53pm

MD1033 almarst-2001 3/15/01 3:15pm

" There is NO large, advanced nation state that has a valid interest, AT THE SCALE OF THE NATION STATE'S POPULATION that favors war."

" You may underestimate the ability of mass-propaganda . . . .

MD1034 rshowalter 3/15/01 3:17pm

rshowalter - 08:50pm Jun 24, 2001 EST (#5976 of 5980)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD1037 rshowalter 3/15/01 3:35pm

Bertotdt Brecht's essay, WRITING THE TRUTH, FIVE DIFFICULTIES is in my version of his play, GALILEO , set into English by Charles Laughton.

It includes this:

" It takes courage to say that the good were defeated not because they were good, but because they were weak."

When the truth is too weak, we have to ask why? Was it indeed the truth? Or were there systematic barriers to the propagation of the truth -- chain breakers? MD4635 rshowalter 6/8/01 7:16pm

Chain Breakers: http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@@.ee79f4e/618

rshowalter - 08:52pm Jun 24, 2001 EST (#5977 of 5980)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD1038 rshowalter 3/15/01 3:40pm ..... I know something, from my personal perspective, about how afraid a high ranking American press officer was of the truth, when I was personally involved.

VERY afraid. And so were a number of employees of The New York Times.

But the fear is partly a hopeful sign. When people are afraid, they have a sense of vulnerability -- and for people of good faith, that's close to a sense of doubt.

MD5233 rshowalter 6/15/01 7:36pm . . . .
The US has some uncomfortable and anxious things about it, too.

. Guardian Talk Issues Mankind's Inhumanity to Man and Woman - As natural as human goodness? http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?13@@.ee7b085/193 describes a a situation where there was a good deal of fear involved.

The link leads to #163, a posting I did in response to an inquirry, on another Guardian thread, by an anonymous reporter who I suspect, judging from output, filed without my help the next day.

MD1039 almarst-2001 3/15/01 3:50pm said:

" If the leading media outlets can be frightened and coersed to paticipate in lie and propaganda, this Democracy is as shalow as the one, used to be found in USSR. "

We need to do better than that.

Heroics aren't necessary, or won't be necessary often. What's needed, is more checking -- and more insistence on checking -- and getting our standards raised, a step at a time. It can be done, and needs to be.

rshowalter - 09:00pm Jun 24, 2001 EST (#5978 of 5980)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD5105 rshowalter 6/14/01 2:11pm .... MD5106 rshowalter 6/14/01 2:51pm

rshowalter - 09:01pm Jun 24, 2001 EST (#5979 of 5980)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD5553 rshowalter 6/20/01 3:31pm reads in part:

" If George W. Bush found a way to clean up the messes left by the Cold War, get rid of the terror of nuclear weapons, and use American leadership, in cooperation with other countries, in a way that made the United States safer, more prosperous, and more respected, and all legitimate nation states more secure, he'd go down in history as one of the greatest presidents of the United States. . . . "

MD5554 rshowalter 6/20/01 4:41pm

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