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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 - 07:19am Sep 9, 2001 EST (#8693 of 8699)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

gisterme and I discussed the notion that Americans, and especially American officers, can look too much like Major Strasser of Casablanca , subject matter discussed, with connections in MD3383-3385 (links: rshowalter 9/8/01 8:24pm ) in the following passages, which I believe are very interesting now, both in terms of things to be hoped for, and things to be concerned about.

Gisterme argues that I'm making some unfair analogies, and in some ways she's right.

But I argue that the analogies deal with matters that it is vital for Americans to understand, if we are to have certain kinds of practical hope.

MD3418 gisterme 5/7/01 1:41pm ... MD3419 rshowalter 5/7/01 2:10pm
MD3420 gisterme 5/7/01 3:25pm ... MD3421 gisterme 5/7/01 3:41pm
MD3422 rshowalter 5/7/01 3:45pm ... MD3423 rshowalter 5/7/01 3:47pm

rshowalter - 07:19am Sep 9, 2001 EST (#8694 of 8699)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

One need not doubt that Condoleezza Rice has manifest virtues. But people have experiences that are "packages of responses and experiences" - - and some virtues go with some defects, too.

Cultures and organizations are specialized to do what they do, and so are the people in them.

That can fit them well for some purposes, but can make them blind, incompetent, and sometimes cruel in the face of challenges they are not adapted for. (Or adapted to resist.) Universities can be terrible models for efficient administration, or for rational conduct. Or fine ones. Depending on details. So can university administrators (there's some very bracing literature on the behavior of college presidents, for instance.)

Here's a cautionary tale: http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/highlights/essay_kay_lostcause/index.html

rshowalter - 07:29am Sep 9, 2001 EST (#8695 of 8699)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Now, whether " almarst " has anything to do with the Russian government, I can only judge from context -- and others might judge differently. . . . . But he's expressed a reaction that, I believe, corresponds to some Russian reactions. . . . And a higher level of good will than that expressed needs to be worked out before "missile defense" will be looked on as benign.

MD3424 rshowalter 5/7/01 4:11pm ... MD3425 rshowalter 5/7/01 4:17pm
MD3426 rshowalter 5/7/01 4:18pm ... MD3427 rshowalter 5/7/01 4:21pm
MD3428 rshowalter 5/7/01 4:25pm ...

If Americans could see how they look to some other people, they could deal with situations they are now blind to, and there would be new possibilities for progress toward stability and peace.

rshowalter - 07:32am Sep 9, 2001 EST (#8696 of 8699)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

PARADIGM CONFLICT IS ONLY ONE PART OF THE IMPASSE INVOLVING NUCLEAR WEAPONS , but on issues of "human response to threat" and "tactical and strategic use of nuclear weapons" there are paradigm conflicts involving questions of fact and explicit logic that need to be resolved to break through current impasses on nuclear weapons and many issues deeply linked to military policy.

MD1054 rshowalter 3/15/01 7:05pm . . MD1055 rshowalter 3/15/01 7:10pm
MD1056 rshowalter 3/15/01 7:10pm ... MD1057 rshowalter 3/15/01 7:17pm

lunarchick - 09:18am Sep 9, 2001 EST (#8697 of 8699)
lunarchick@www.com

Nite!

(2 following messages)

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