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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 - 04:43pm Jul 9, 2001 EST (#6808 of 6815)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD6792 gisterme 7/9/01 12:41pm asks some serious questions. In MD6792 gisterme 7/9/01 12:41pm I'd said that

" (The corpus of gisterme here bears reading -- it could not possibly be occurring without the knowledge, approval, and backing, of the highest levels of the Bush administration)

gisterme takes me to task, especially, for the my judgement of the possible - as gisterme has a right to do. gisterme writes:

" Why couldn't my opinions possibly be occurring without the knowledge, approval, and backing, of the highest levels of the Bush administration, Robert? Why couldn't gisterme write whatever he wants here in the land of the free?"

That's a fair question - - and one on which gisterme is protesting with feeling (perhaps, protesting too loudly) because the alternative that I suggested, explicitly in MD6790 rshowalter 7/9/01 10:35am , is that, in my opinion,

National Security Advisor Condaleezza Rice,

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld,

Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage,

Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfkowitz,

Deputy National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley,

and the people they report to have to know of this thread, and gisterme's writing on it.

That's my opinion. I think it is a reasonable opinion, amounting by now to an overwhelming probability -- and I think that many other people, looking at the circumstances, might form the same opinion.

rshowalter - 04:44pm Jul 9, 2001 EST (#6809 of 6815)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

For one thing, as of now, if you search "gisterme" you find 58 search pages for this thread -- and they are of high quality, and authoritative, often, in both form and content. For another, gisterme has often taken the position of an officer of state - with a treatening degree of power not far from reach. Here's an example.

I asked a question -- and the issue involved was whether I was committing treason -- a serious issue. MD6024 rshowalter 6/25/01 4:52pm It is a good question -- and short -- I asked: "What have I said that is not in the national interest? I still think that's a good question -- and I believe I've been serving the national interest to high standards.

gisterme replied to the question directly in these posting, and said some related things in other postings:

MD6028 gisterme 6/25/01 6:58pm ... MD6033 gisterme 6/25/01 7:45pm
MD6060 gisterme 6/26/01 3:13pm ....

If gisterme does not have high government connections -- and is not speaking with authority --- gisterme has often written to convey a sense that those connections exist.

rshowalter - 04:47pm Jul 9, 2001 EST (#6810 of 6815)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Do I think that this thread has gotten some attention, at high political levels, in but the US and other countries? Personally, I do think so, and it that's not a certainty, it does seem to me to fit a good deal.

There have been postings like this, rather often, and they've not been contested. They've even been supported. MD6549 rshowalter 7/4/01 11:38am quotes MD5990 rshowalter 6/25/01 11:57am

"This isn't an entertaining thread - it is an effort, with a good deal of cooperation and encouragement from almarst and gisterme , to set out patterns where staffs can communicate, and get to closure, on problems that would be intractable otherwise. . . . But it isn't easy reading for individuals. The problems involved, at unavoidable levels, require a degree of memory, and tolerance for complexity, that require staffs.

"With the internet, and crosslinking, and hard work, there are technical arrangements, partly coming into focus here, that accomodate communication, including the expression of disagreements between staffs. "

I believe that gisterme has indeed been representing a staff, and I still think it very likely -- almost certain, that Rice, Rumsfeld, Armitage, Wolfkowitz, Hadley, and their associates and bosses know about this thread. In the future, if it matters enough, there may be ways to find out whether or not that's true.

I do believe that many, if not most, experienced people, reading gisterme's postings in context, would conclude that he represents the Bush administration -- with "deniability" at one level, but - by now, not very much.

When I asked

" Gisterme , is there any substance to the lasar based weapons programs?"

I feel I asked a fair question --- and I have to feel that gisterme knows the answer, but does not like the answer.

rshowalter - 07:15pm Jul 9, 2001 EST (#6811 of 6815)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD6613 rshowalter 7/4/01 11:46pm ... MD6614 rshowalter 7/4/01 11:48pm

(4 following messages)

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