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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 - 04:06pm Sep 2, 2001 EST (#8338 of 8347)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Questions about financial impropriety, involving HUGE amounts of money, cannot be ignored with respect to the very large, discretionary contracting involved with "missile defense".

MD904 lunarchick 3/10/01 10:45am ... MD905 rshowalter 3/10/01 12:08pm
MD906 rshowalter 3/10/01 12:15pm

MD926_927 rshowalter 3/11/01 5:02pm

MD5924_5925 rshowalter 6/24/01 7:50am

MD6583-6584 rshowalter 7/4/01 9:20pm

We're dealing with propaganda machines here:

... In Virginia, Young Conservatives Learn How to Develop and Use Their Political Voices by BLAINE HARDEN http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/11/politics/11CONS.html linked to md4771

And there are huge amounts of money to be made by friends, close associates, and the father of the President of the United States:

" I wonder how many enlisted men could read Elder Bush in Big GOP Cast Toiling for Top Equity Firm by LESLIE WAYNE http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/05/politics/05CARL.html without being ashamed?

rshowalter - 04:07pm Sep 2, 2001 EST (#8339 of 8347)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Nor can you ignore the possibility that patterns of military relationship may produce corruption of entire groups - - something that appears to have happened with respect to the Osprey matter - - (and something the Marine Corps appears to be investigating in a responsible way that gives one hope.)

MD7914 rshowalter 8/19/01 4:30pm ... MD7915 rshowalter 8/19/01 4:33pm

Things can go wrong, and stay wrong, for long times, in the military industrial complex. For reasons that are "understandable", and for reasons that are less so.

When stakes are high -- as high as this -- things should be checked.

rshowalter - 04:14pm Sep 2, 2001 EST (#8340 of 8347)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

North Korea Proposes Resumption of Unification Talks By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Koreas-Dialogue.html

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- In what was seen here as an attempt to influence a key vote in the South Korean parliament, North Korea proposed Sunday to resume as soon as possible talks with the South that have been on hold since March.

" The proposal, which amounted to a policy reversal, came a day before Chinese President Jiang Zemin was to begin a three-day visit to North Korea, the first by a Chinese leader in nine years. Chinese officials said Jiang was to urge North Korea to reopen dialogue with the South.

yertleturtle - 04:36pm Sep 2, 2001 EST (#8341 of 8347)

I can't believe this administration is now encouraging China to build more nuclear missiles. They will stop at nothing to try and build NMD. This (unelected) administration has officially stepped into the realm of the insane. How can we stop it?

Star Wars critic has become a Pentagon target: http://commondreams.org/headlines01/0902-03.htm

rshowalter - 04:50pm Sep 2, 2001 EST (#8342 of 8347)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Going Backwards: Missile-Defense System Critic Says He's a Target by Matt Crenson, Associated Press http://commondreams.org/headlines01/0902-03.htm Published on Sunday, September 2, 2001 in the Los Angeles Times is an important piece.

Crenson ends:

" To people who pay attention to such things, the situation with Postol has become a joke. But thanks to the classified status of the report and his letters, nobody with a security clearance can talk publicly about it.

" And there's the rub. Those who are best qualified to evaluate Postol's claims have either security clearances, strong opinions about missile defense, or both. The rest of us can only gaze at the mysterious charts and tables and weigh the accusations of a brilliant and fractious man against the Pentagon's denials.

That is a key reason why I've been working hard to set up a situation where things can be checked in terms of what is possible in the open literature.

Things could be checked and explained and illustrated so that a very wide sector of the US population could understand, and there would then be "islands of fact" beyond politics.

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