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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?

lunarchick - 08:23pm Aug 7, 2001 EST (#7776 of 7787)
lunarchick@www.com

Seems that Foundation type work hasn't taken the paperless route:

Nonprofits & Social Enterprise Direct Marketing for Nonprofits: Essential Techniques for the New Era by Kay Partney Lautman Aspen Publishers, Inc., 2001 ~ http://hbswk.hbs.edu/topic.jhtml?t=nonprofit Why nonprofits can't cut corners on direct mail

lunarchick - 08:56pm Aug 7, 2001 EST (#7777 of 7787)
lunarchick@www.com

Social Engineering!

lunarchick - 09:13pm Aug 7, 2001 EST (#7778 of 7787)
lunarchick@www.com

China

" ... branches of the Falun Gong, a spiritual sect outlawed in China, claim that local supporters are being interned right now in the Moganshan detention centre - which is not to be found on the tourist map.

rshowalter - 09:41am Aug 8, 2001 EST (#7779 of 7787)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I've had some computer problems. But some time to think, too.

Because of my own background, I've stayed clear of peace activists -- I'm not sure I've actually talked to one, discussing disarmament, face to face, for thirty years. When I first got involved with this thread, and since, I've been trying to work "through channels" -- and adress problems of how to get out of the current nuclear terror.

Over the weekend, I spent a couple of days with activists associated with nukewatch. http://www.nukewatch.com/

It was a fascinating experience.

I'm not a pacifist, but I will be watching much more closely what peace organizations do, and trying to communicate with them.

rshowalter - 10:03am Aug 8, 2001 EST (#7780 of 7787)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

U.S., Russian Defense Officials Meet By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/news/AP-US-Russia.html

"WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. and Russian defense officials are meeting behind closed doors at the Pentagon to explore the prospects for an agreement on building missile defenses and cutting nuclear forces.

" The talks, which began Tuesday and were scheduled to end Wednesday, are intended to set the stage for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's meetings in Moscow next week with Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov.

" The Pentagon announced Tuesday that Rumsfeld, accompanied by Gen. Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Undersecretary of State John Bolton, will leave Saturday. It will be Rumsfeld's first trip to Moscow since he became defense secretary in January.

" The administration hopes to make an accommodation soon with the Russians on missile defense because, on its current schedule, the Pentagon is due to come in conflict with legal restrictions in a matter of months. In the spring, the Pentagon may start construction at Fort Greely, Alaska, of underground silos for missile interceptors.

" A Pentagon spokesman, Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, said he could not discuss Tuesday's talks except to say they pertained to issues of missile defense and ways to reduce offensive nuclear forces. He said Rumsfeld did not participate, except to attend a Pentagon luncheon for the Russian delegation.

" ``We're really trying to figure this out on a different way to look at the relationship between our two countries,'' Quigley said.

" The Bush administration is committed to developing and deploying a nationwide defense against long-range missiles, but has yet to persuade Moscow to scrap or amend the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty that prohibits such defenses. The Russians' position has been that breaching the ABM treaty would unravel the entire fabric of arms control, including treaties reducing offensive nuclear forces.

" At their summit meeting in Italy last month, Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to discuss the ABM treaty and missile defense issues in the context of additional cuts in nuclear forces.

" This week's talks at the Pentagon are intended to provide the Russians with additional details on the U.S. approach, Quigley said. Rumsfeld said last week, however, that the administration was not yet prepared to tell the Russians exactly how much it would be willing to reduce the U.S. nuclear arsenal. The Pentagon is in the midst of a comprehensive review of nuclear force levels and strategy.

" Leading the Russian delegation at the Pentagon was Col. Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, first deputy chief of the general staff. Quigley said there were nine others in the Russian delegation. The U.S. side was led by Douglas Feith, the under secretary of defense for policy, who was an arms negotiations policy aide at the Pentagon during President Reagan's second term.

" The talks Tuesday and Wednesday were scheduled to last a total of 18 hours, Quigley said.

" In remarks to reporters last Friday, Rumsfeld indicated he expected no breakthrough in this week's talks, which he described as ``an exchange of information more than an exchange of views.''

" Rumsfeld said there are psychological barriers to creating a new security relationship with Russia.

" ``There is an awful lot of baggage left over in the relationship, the old relationship, the Cold War relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union,'' he said.

" ``It is baggage that exists in people's minds, it exists in treaties, it exists in the structure of relationships, the degree of formality of them,'' he added. ``And it will require, I think, some time to work through these things and see if we can't set the relationship on a different basis.''

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