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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 - 07:35am Sep 13, 2001 EST (#8920 of 8924)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Beautiful, Dawn!

Important comments by Armel . . . . but subject to some qualifications, that are important, because Armel's points are so important.

MD8910 armel7 9/13/01 12:20am

" All weapons are designed to kill as many people as possible."

Not true, most weapons, throughout most of history, have been designed to do controlled damage, to specific targets, chosen with human volition largely preserved.

The more indiscriminant and gross the damage, the more reason there is to be concerned about weapons.

For centuries, but especially since WWI, the notion of "total war, against civilians" has taken root. We shouldn't be causal about it.

And we shouldn't dismiss crucial operational distinctions. Including quantitative distinctions.

"How much? questions are important in the world, and questions of "How bad?" -- not only qualitatively, but quantitatively, too, are important.

rshowalter - 07:36am Sep 13, 2001 EST (#8921 of 8924)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Armel also asks: "Are we really so bad" - - and frames the question comparatively - - - bad compared to who else? MD8911 armel7 9/13/01 12:29am

And he makes a good case, that I don't wish to dispute, that other nations have bad things about them, too, and that there are many, many wonderful things about America.

But the comparitive question "are we really so bad" can be compared to a number of things - - including compared to consequences.

Even America's worst enemies appreciate many, many things about America:

. Japan Is Said to Detain Son of North Korean Leader by HOWARD W. FRENCH http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/03/world/03CND-KIM.html

A North Korean leader who takes great risks to take his kid to Disneyland can't be all bad. Not all bad. But bad enough to give us some pause. Would that North Korean leader kill Americans if he could? I think so. Does that make him inhuman? No.

Should we defend ourselves? Sure we should.

Might it make sense to talk to N. Korea, and see if there might be ways for us to coexist more comfortably? Sure might.

We aren't "all bad" -- there are more wonderful things about America than a person can possibly put in his head. But we can be bad enough, in crucial ways, as well.

Abraham Lincoln said something that a lot of other people have known, probably as long as man has been man.

" If you look for the bad in people, you will surely find it."

That doesn't relax the seriousness of consequences.

rshowalter - 07:45am Sep 13, 2001 EST (#8922 of 8924)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

The world is complex , and we are too. That shouldn't grant anybody absolution. But it is a fact.

I gave a briefing to almarst, that I've talked about in MD7388-89 rshowalter 7/24/01 8:17pm , that includes this

MD1128 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?14@184.58dCadhUula^832351@.f0ce57b/1224...

MD1129 rshowalter 3/17/01 5:38pm ... MD1130 rshowalter 3/17/01 5:38pm

People can be guilty and victims at ONCE.

People can be monsters and good people at ONCE -in different aspects of their lives, or at different times.

Americans can be dazzlingly beautiful. And have terrible faults, too. That can apply to single Americans, and can be said of groups of us, too.

rshowalter - 07:52am Sep 13, 2001 EST (#8923 of 8924)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Of course we have to defend ourselves. Of course we sometimes have to fight. All the same, some of what "good" people do makes you want to turn your head away. And we'd have to fight less, and we'd fight more effectively when we had to fight, if we remembered that.

MD3201 rshowalter 5/3/01 8:17pm ... MD3202 gisterme 5/3/01 8:37pm
MD3203 rshowalter 5/3/01 8:45pm ... MD3204 rshowalter 5/3/01 8:47pm
MD3205 rshowalter 5/3/01 9:00pm ...

Some context, and a big question by almarst . . .
1308-1310 rshowalter 3/22/01 11:48am

You don't have to be a sentimentalist, or a cultural relativist. Some things are ugly and some uglier than others.
MD2437 rshowalter 4/20/01 3:20pm ... MD2438 rshowalter 4/20/01 3:23pm
MD2442 rshowalter 4/20/01 4:00pm ... MD2443 rshowalter 4/20/01 4:01pm
MD2444 rshowalter 4/20/01 4:04pm ... MD2445 rshowalter 4/20/01 4:11pm

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