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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 - 09:51am Sep 15, 2001 EST (#9087 of 9096)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Quotes of the day

"Whatever the cause, whatever the perversion of religious feeling, whatever the political belief, to inflict such terror on the world; to take the lives of so many innocent and defenceless men, women and children, can never ever be justified" -b Tony Blair.

"Terrorism, wherever it rears its evil head, will never succeed and democracy must always triumph" - Iain Duncan Smith.

"Our job was to get up to the floor where the plane had hit to reach people there - that's what we were determined to do," hero fireman Mike Kehoe , who was pictured dashing up the stairs of the WTC's north tower as workers flooded out.

"For the flower of democracy to flourish, it must grow in the soil of justice. Yes, those responsible for such barbaric acts must be held to account. But we must be guided by higher goals than mere revenge" - Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey.

"Even scary movies do not happen like this" - Enver Kesti , 42, a pizza chef whose shop was in the shadow of the World Trade Centre.

"We need not to show fear, and not to give in. We need to prove them wrong by how we respond to this" - Former US President Bill Clinton.

"One thing that is clear is you don't do it with just a single military strike, no matter how dramatic" - Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz , on how the US would respond.

"If a country or group violates our country, we will not forget our revenge" - Taliban spokesman b Abdul Hai Muttmain

rshowalter - 09:52am Sep 15, 2001 EST (#9088 of 9096)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

US pulls the plug on Muslim websites http://www.guardian.co.uk/internetnews/story/0,7369,549646,00.html

Islamic groups have condemned a government crackdown on a Texan telecoms company as part of a "witch-hunt", writes Brian Whitaker

Monday September 10, 2001

rshowalter - 10:00am Sep 15, 2001 EST (#9089 of 9096)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

All good quotes from the London Times. I'm particularly struck with this one.

" Whatever the cause, whatever the perversion of religious feeling, whatever the political belief, to inflict such terror on the world; to take the lives of so many innocent and defenceless men, women and children, can never ever be justified" Tony Blair.

What kinds of terror is Blair speaking about? How should the word "terror" be limited?

That's a crucial matter, if we're to find military balances, and diplomatic arrangements, that are tolerable or decently safe.

That's a point almarst has been pressing, consistently on this board, for months now.

In the dialog, almarst , our "Putin stand-in" has said that even full nuclear disarmament might be discussable, but that for it to happen, a number of "mutually dependent" issues have to be satisfactory.

Many of those issues involve terror in very real human senses.

almarst-2001 - 10:17am Sep 15, 2001 EST (#9090 of 9096)

Either we should assume that all civilians killed during the "humanitarian" bombing (including the use of DU and clustered munitions) where GUILTY or that since then, Mr. Blair have changed his views.

Did he ever have any view?

rshowalter - 11:29am Sep 15, 2001 EST (#9091 of 9096)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

almarst, views are focusing.

You've been making a case on this board that needs to be made, but you need to consider what human limitations often are - - how would you "make your case before a jury?"

Of course, you can ask -- why are people so slow to see -- so hard to convince?

Well, when it comes time for action, people are hard to convince. But there are ways to do it - - and it is worth doing.

Here's a nice quote from Envisioning Information by Eward Tuftie

MD 8211 rshowalter 8/28/01 5:35pm

Some standards that have evolved in court practice:

MD8213-8214 rshowalter 8/28/01 6:15pm

Cases can't just be "suggested" - - especially when the consequences of the truth being "somehow too weak" are so great. Cases have to be made.

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