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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 - 10:07am Jul 12, 2001 EST (#6974 of 6982)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

The US has a written constitution - - which makes it different from UK -- but in addition to the document, there are a body of "unwritten rules" - - implicit, but very important agreements.

This administration is ravaging both the spirit and the substance of very many of these unwritten agreements -- and doing damage to the United States by doing so -- for reasons that are neither technically nor, in any way I can see, ethically supportable.

rshowalter - 10:30am Jul 12, 2001 EST (#6975 of 6982)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD6789 rshowalter 7/9/01 10:34am .... MD6790 rshowalter 7/9/01 10:35am
MD6791 rshowalter 7/9/01 10:35am .... MD6861 rshowalter 7/10/01 4:36pm

The stakes are high enough here, that checking should be justified. Indeed, for people who claim to be decent members of society, morally forcing.

The administration's missile defense initiative is a massive fraud, and I can't see how anyone in the Bush administration control group can escape knowing it.

lunarchick - 10:50am Jul 12, 2001 EST (#6976 of 6982)
lunarchick@www.com

Interesting commentary regarding the race riots in Bradford England. When the Pakistan sector marry they don't marry local people, rather, they send back to the Sub Continent for a marriage-mate - everytime! The problem then becomes one of these generations of migrants not integrating into the culture of the host country. There is said to be a need for them to increase their educational levels - to assist chances of employment. There is also a divide in the schools attended .. sounds like there's a need for a 'bus' factor to mix them in with the local population. A report on these matters has just been issued.

lunarchick - 10:54am Jul 12, 2001 EST (#6977 of 6982)
lunarchick@www.com

Nite!

rshowalter - 01:22pm Jul 12, 2001 EST (#6978 of 6982)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Pentagon to Begin Missile Defense Construction in April by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/12/politics/12wire-missile.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- " The Pentagon plans to begin construction next April for new tests of a missile defense, which could violate a 1972 treaty banning national missile shields, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Thursday.

"In testimony before the Senate Armed Services committee, Wolfowitz did not describe in detail the proposed test facility. But he appeared to be referring to sites in Alaska, which he said would be part of an expanded network of facilities for testing missile defenses.

"He said there would likely be legal arguments about whether such activities violate the Antiballistic Missile Treaty but added that the administration intends to reach a new understanding with Russia shortly that would make such questions moot.

" "As the program develops and the various testing activities mature, one or more aspects will inevitably bump against treaty restrictions and limitations. Such an event is likely to occur in months, rather than in years," Wolfowitz told the committee. "It is not possible to know with certainty whether that will occur in the coming year."

"The State Department has notified its diplomats around the world that the tests will come in conflict with that 1972 treaty with Moscow.

"The Pentagon has scheduled for Saturday its first flight test in a year of interceptors designed to shoot down long-range missiles. An attempt last July failed.

"The State Department memo drew immediate reaction from the Russian government.

"According to the Interfax news agency, Vladimir Rushailo, head of President Vladimir Putin's Security Council, told reporters in Belarus: "Russia, as well as many other countries, believes that a unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the ABM treaty would lead to the destruction of strategic stability, a new powerful spiral of the arms race, particularly in space, and the development of means for overcoming the national missile defense system."

"The Pentagon intends to notify Congress as early as next week that it will begin ground-clearing work in August for a new missile defense test site in Alaska, a senior Pentagon official said Thursday.

"The site at Fort Greely will be part of an expanded network of missile defense test facilities that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld hopes will accelerate development of a variety of missile defense technologies.

"The Pentagon intends to place between five and 10 silo-based missile interceptors at Fort Greely for testing against target missiles fired from an aircraft and perhaps from ground-based locations.

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