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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 - 02:50pm Aug 19, 2001 EST (#7909 of 7932)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I've been away, with some of the time in Washington, for a while. It seems to me that many things are going in ways that are stressful, but useful, as the nation, and the world at large, come to the focuses needed to work out reasonable accomodations toward a more realistic, reasonable, safer world. One with military arrangements that serve the interests of the United States, and the rest of the world, better than the arrangements today.

I think it is useful to set out articles on missile defense, and related matters, for the last week.

I'm finding myself very hopeful, and perhaps that's a bias.

It seems to me useful to refer again to Russia, China Sign Treaty Amid Concerns About U.S. By PATRICK E. TYLER http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/16/international/16CND-RUSS.html

Md7083 rshowalter 7/16/01 3:58pm ... MD7085 rshowalter 7/16/01 4:01pm

and especially
MD7086 rshowalter 7/16/01 4:03pm ... MD7087 rshowalter 7/16/01 4:09pm
MD7088-7093 rshowalter 7/16/01 5:17pm . . .

MD7089 lunarchick 7/16/01 5:38pm .. makes a key point, much emphasized by circumstances that are coming to light. She spoke of the recent "truimphant" test, and said that .. "The hailing of the breakthrough is a sham. " There's been a retraction. The test is to be repeated, after a long time to check for problems - without any changes.

The relations between this administration, missile defense, and technical reality are becoming interesting in ways that are getting clearer.

Once some key technical facts , which are fundamentally non-political, and all showable on the basis of the open literature -- get clarified, so that people actually understand them ..... some political, diplomatic, and military patterns are going to have to be reshaped in useful ways.

In some ways, the United States is acting the fool and the bully in public -- and doing so on the basis of a "treat" that is a technical joke - no physical threat at all. This is interesting.

At the same time, US institutions, including the United States Marine Corps as it deals with the Osprey matter, are showing how good the United States can be, and offering both good examples, and hope.

rshowalter - 03:08pm Aug 19, 2001 EST (#7910 of 7932)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

A WEEK'S NYT COVERAGE OF MISSILE DEFENSE

The Week in Review: August 12-18 http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/19/weekinreview/19P2ST.html

Making Rules in the World Between War and Peace By TIM WEINER http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/19/weekinreview/19WEIN.html
Can a state legally destroy its enemies by any means necessary?

Rice on Front Lines as Adviser to Bush By JANE PERLEZ http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/19/international/americas/19DIPL.html
Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell have played surprising, and contrasting, roles in the Bush administration.

The Limiting of Science Is Cutting Off Hope By ABRAHAM VERGHESE http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/19/magazine/19WWLN.html
How surprising and embarrassing that the United States is slamming the door on cloning human embryonic cells.

Missile Defense Contract Awarded By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Missile-Defense-Contract.html
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) -- The Department of Defense awarded a contract worth nearly $5 million to a Point Hope Native corporation.

Bush Faces New Dispute Over Payment of U.N. Dues By LIZETTE ALVAREZ http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/17/international/17NATI.html
Republican leaders are working to resolve a new dispute over the United States' payment of millions of dollars in back dues.

Floyd Spence, South Carolina Congressman, Dies at 73 By PHILIP SHENON http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/17/politics/17SPEN.html
Representative Floyd D. Spence, a South Carolina Republican who was chairman of the House Armed Services Committee until earlier this year and used the post to call for a larger military budget and a national missile-defense program, died today at a hospital in Jackson, Miss., after emergency brain surgery. He was 73.

To the Navy's Ranks, Add Webmaster By NANCY BETH JACKSON http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/16/technology/16NAVY.html Internet use, particularly e-mail, has changed life for many crew members during their tours that last months at sea.

Pentagon Harbors Antimissile Skepticism By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/16/national/16MISS.html

" The head of the Pentagon's missile defense programs said today that he was not fully confident in the "basic functionality" of the antimissile system that successfully intercepted a mock warhead in space last month.

" The official, Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, the director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, said that because of the uncertainties the next test of the system, in October, would be a replay of the July 14 test, with no additional complexities like more decoys aboard the target missile.

" The system is designed to destroy an intercontinental-range ballistic missile before its warheads re-enter Earth's atmosphere."

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