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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 - 06:26am Sep 6, 2001 EST (#8553 of 8556)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

The cast of characters in http://www.csis.org/about/index.htm is distinguished in many ways -- but it also represents an interlocked system of "interests" that are deeply problematic to the view of Russians, as expressed by almarst.

Friedman, referring to a recent book by Kissinger, points out that some of Kissinger's positions "make Machiavelli seem like one of the angels of mercy." MD7589 rshowalt 7/29/01 9:57pm That same comment could apply, with equal justice, to many others, deeply influenced by Kissinger, on the CSIS Board.

It certainly applies to the actions of Wesley Clark, a Senior Advisor to CSIS. Clark's actions in Kosovo have been deeply offensive to Russians.

MD8324 rshowalter 9/2/01 1:42pm .

William S. Cohen is also on the CSIS board, and his op-ed piece yesterday reads almost as an "open letter" to me, complete with some legal advice. Given my correspondence with Sam Nunn, and NTI it occurs to me that the piece was written with this thread in mind. And written in a way to rule out any possibility of real progress, if that progress required the "powers that be" to rethink anything at all, or subject themselves to any real criticism at all.

As the NTI Mission Statement says, we need to

"build the trust, trasparency, and security which are preconditions to the ultimate fulfillment of the Nonproliferation Treaty's goals and ambitions."

We have a ways to go.

We need to negotiate more effectively in the future than we have in the past. This thread has made some breakthroughs, showing some of how it can be done.

rshowalter - 06:49am Sep 6, 2001 EST (#8554 of 8556)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD5784-5787 rshowalter 6/22/01 1:05pm ... sets out Henry Kissinger on Trial: A Guide to the Controversy Surrounding the Diplomat from the Encyclopedia Britannica web site --February 2001

US Policy in Guatemala MD6341 rshowalter 6/30/01 3:07pm

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

Russians, other Europeans, and people in nations all over the world have reason to be concerned about patterns of agressiveness, and mercilessness, in the US past. And Wesley Clark's recent book ought to reinforce these concerns.

rshowalter - 07:25am Sep 6, 2001 EST (#8555 of 8556)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

gisterme , I know that under conditions of paradigm conflict, different people see things very differently -- that's a reason you need to determine key facts under such circumstances.

I'm surprised that you could read almarst's many posts, and not see his concern about American brutality, agressiveness, deception, and, from many perspectives, propaganda, and take that as an indication that we appear to have paradigm conflict here. gisterme 9/6/01 2:31am

Surely concerns about American agressiveness were implicit, but clear, in almarst's postings of yesterday -- which cite news stories I'd encourage you to look at.

MD8479 almarst-2001 9/4/01 9:50pm ... MD8480 almarst-2001 9/4/01 9:56pm
MD8481almarst-2001 9/4/01 10:03pm ... MD8482 almarst-2001 9/4/01 10:07pm
MD8483 almarst-2001 9/4/01 10:13pm ... MD8484 almarst-2001 9/4/01 10:14pm
MD8485 almarst-2001 9/4/01 10:18pm ... MD8486 almarst-2001 9/4/01 10:20pm
MD8487 almarst-2001 9/4/01 10:22pm ... MD8488 almarst-2001 9/4/01 10:27pm
MD8489 almarst-2001 9/4/01 10:29pm ... MD8490 almarst-2001 9/4/01 10:39pm

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