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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?

rshowalt - 07:31am Jul 30, 2001 EST (#7599 of 7605)

Nuclear terror is an American invention and development. We've used threat and terror, very effectively, for a long time. If we took action, and acknowledged what we did, then effective nuclear disarmament would be possible -- and much other progress toward increased peace and decency would be possible. We could, at the least, get to the point where nuclear risks were no larger than many of the natural disaster risks we cope with.

We need to know what has been done.

THREATS TO USE NUCLEAR WEAPONS: The Sixteen Known Nuclear Crises of the Cold War, 1946-1985 by David R. Morgan , National President, Veterans Against Nuclear Arms Vancouver, Canada March 6, 1996 http://scienceforpeace.sa.utoronto.ca/WorkingGroupsPage/NucWeaponsPage/Documents/ThreatsNucWea.html

The potential for subversion of the constitution and democracy of the United States , and for fraud, is very great, given the mechanism set up in Eisenhower's time, that has gone with little supervision, and with many ways to enrich people for private gain, for more than 40 years.

It seems to me that there are reasons to suspect the Bush administration of betraying the interests of the United States in very important, terrible ways.

Perhaps there's another explanation for the performance of the people close to gisterme -- - the top group in the administration, probably including both Bushes. But I don't see it now.

But it should also be said that the problems have been going on for a long time -- in significant ways, since Eisenhower's time. MD6853 rshowalter 7/10/01 3:49pm

MD6854 rshowalter 7/10/01 4:00pm . . . MD6856 rshowalter 7/10/01 4:03pm

lunarchick - 09:19am Jul 30, 2001 EST (#7600 of 7605)
lunarchick@www.com

The day the circus came to town. Turning us into a Pacific launch pad, they bought a few ferries.

rshowalt - 09:46am Jul 30, 2001 EST (#7601 of 7605)

In Australia, Rumsfeld and Powell talked on re-establishing military contacts with Indonesia.

Congress has reasons to be wary of our Indonesian involvements, especially with an administration closely allied with Kissinger and his students.

From Henry Kissinger on Trial: A Guide to the Controversy Surrounding the Diplomat which was featured on Britannica.Com in February 2001

MD5784 rshowalter 6/22/01 1:05pm ... MD5785 rshowalter 6/22/01 1:05pm
. MD5787 rshowalter 6/22/01 1:06pm

East Timor

In 1975, the government of Indonesia invaded and annexed East Timor, an independent and sovereign nation-state, and killed approximately 200,000 of its inhabitants—roughly one-third of its population (the largest proportional genocide since the Holocaust). Kissinger and President Ford gave approval for the invasion to Indonesia's dictator, General Suharto, who received economic and military aid from the United States. This approval, argues Hitchens, makes Kissinger complicit in crimes against humanity.

Encyclopædia Britannica on East Timor

Encyclopædia Britannica on Indonesia

. East Timor (from Time.com ) http://www.time.com/time/daily/newsfiles/timor/

. Dossier: A relatively painless primer on the history of the conflict in East Timor (from Mother Jones ) http://www.motherjones.com/east_timor/dossier/

. East Timor: Questions & Answers (from Z Magazine)

. We helped them descend into hell (from the New Statesman)

. East Timor: Long Road Ahead (from the BBC) http://news6.thdo.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_646000/646393.stm

lunarchick - 09:57am Jul 30, 2001 EST (#7602 of 7605)
lunarchick@www.com

The worry re the Indonesian Army is that they set up milita who in turn bully, beat, and kill the local population. This is happening now on the Islands with mineral resources. In West Papua the technique is to move Indonesians onto the Island - who inturn outnumber the original inhabitants - whose land was stolen. The wealth is being drained to the East Javanese. Suharto (and family) still have vast holdings - with money - to pay private armies to do their dirty work. I doubt if Megawatti will be a human rights champion .... more likely to put the Army in charge of the country and let it do what it wants.

The Indonesian Army has people who were trained in Oz - perhaps they should include info re moral education and ethics - and hope it flows north.

lunarchick - 10:10am Jul 30, 2001 EST (#7603 of 7605)
lunarchick@www.com

N . I . T . E!

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