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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 - 05:49pm Jul 3, 2001 EST (#6512 of 6521)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Maybe war crimes trials, as now done, are unacceptably one sided.

Here's an example that occurs to me -- sometimes, punishment isn't want you might most want. Suppose, as Friedman implies, that Kissinger is as guilty a character as his most venemous critics suggest.

Does that mean it would be best to shoot him?

Maybe not. For a lot of reasons. One is that, if you could only sentence the guy to fixing the harm done as effectively as he could he might get a lot of good stuff done.

Just a thought.

Maybe the Yugoslavs have a lot of right on their side, when they say that the punishment of THEIR leader has to fit the needs of their country.

But what about standards in a community of nations? Suppose I grant that US standards are badly flawed. Isn't the ideal of community standards a good one, dealing with the things that war crimes courts deal with?

rshowalter - 05:51pm Jul 3, 2001 EST (#6513 of 6521)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

A good standard should apply to Prime Ministers of UK and Presidents of the United States. It surely ought not to be applied exclusively to leaders who lose wars.

rshowalter - 05:55pm Jul 3, 2001 EST (#6514 of 6521)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

And if first use of nuclear weapons is not a war crime, then nothing can reasonably be a war crime. Because nothing produces more death - of more deaths completely devoid of any pretense of justice. And few imaginable slaughters can compare in ugliness either -- nuclear weapons would leave more rotting unburied corpses than anyone could count.

One could say some similar things about the Dresden Fire Raid in WWII. My guess is that Putin, who spent time in Dresden, feels that way.

rshowalter - 06:10pm Jul 3, 2001 EST (#6515 of 6521)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

If I were a Russian leader, or a Russian citizen, or a leader or citizen of any country in Europe that had been swept by the Cold War -- I'd be very leery of simple of cocksure "justice".

Things were complicated. Just as I hope that American government can do better than Curt LeMay and Kissinger did -- I can hope that Russia does better than it did when the KGB did some of the terrible things it did.

We all have to do better. Won't be easy for any of us.

rshowalter - 06:12pm Jul 3, 2001 EST (#6516 of 6521)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Some people with necessary skills and connections may have very dirty hands, as well.

Putin, for example, may be the best leader Russia has had this century (that seems likely to me). All the same, he's not the sweetest, pureist flower that ever bloomed.

I know very well Bush isn't blameless.

rshowalter - 06:16pm Jul 3, 2001 EST (#6517 of 6521)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

For the record, I'm not for hanging Kissinger, either. Though some days, it might be fun to think about. But, taking all in all, doesn't seem like a thing that will fit to all the circumstances.

rshowalter - 06:54pm Jul 3, 2001 EST (#6518 of 6521)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

What do people want? Or is the question too complex? Maybe it just takes work to adequately define, and some balancing.

MD6478 rshowalter 7/3/01 4:09pm .... MD6496 rshowalter 7/3/01 4:53pm

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