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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 - 11:35am Sep 15, 2001 EST (#9092 of 9096)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

One doesn't have to have any reservations about the good in America, to be concerned about this -- and dealing with the questions raised, and considering the ways that the points may be right or wrong.

They can't see why they are hated Americans cannot ignore what their government does abroad by Seumas Milne http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,551036,00.html

Special report: Terrorism in the US http://www.guardian.co.uk/usterrorism

" Nearly two days after the horrific suicide attacks on civilian workers in New York and Washington, it has become painfully clear that most Americans simply don't get it. From the president to passersby on the streets, the message seems to be the same: this is an inexplicable assault on freedom and democracy, which must be answered with overwhelming force - just as soon as someone can construct a credible account of who was actually responsible.

" Shock, rage and grief there has been aplenty. But any glimmer of recognition of why people might have been driven to carry out such atrocities, sacrificing their own lives in the process - or why the United States is hated with such bitterness, not only in Arab and Muslim countries, but across the developing world - seems almost entirely absent. . . . . . . "

If Americans could see the problems related to this - even if they denied them or tried to rebut them in detail -- if they saw the problem -- there would be a lot more hope in the world than there is.

In this thread, the problems that almarst , Dawn, and I have all had with gisterme hinge on this issue.

There's an unwillingness to acknowledge that Americans could be in the wrong - or, if in the wrong, it could be important.

rshowalter - 11:36am Sep 15, 2001 EST (#9093 of 9096)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Special report: terrorism in the US http://www.guardian.co.uk/usterrorism

European states quantify support for military action as US hints it may launch strike against Iraq . . . Cracks appear in coalition

• European states qualify support for military action
• Blair says 'we have an obligation to help'
• US hints at possibility of strike against Iraq

by Ewen MacAskill, Ian Black in Brussels and Ian Traynor in Moscow

Saturday September 15, 2001 http://www.guardian.co.uk/wtccrash/story/0,1300,552410,00.html

rshowalter - 11:51am Sep 15, 2001 EST (#9094 of 9096)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

America would be better off, safer, more comfortable, and richer, if it could stop doing, avoid doing, the avoidable, counterproductive things that it does that cause people to hate our country.

There isn't a single thing about America that is worthwhile that would have to be sacrificed in doing that.

And we'd be militarily stronger, in the senses that ought to matter to ordinary people, if we dealt with these problems.

Yes, we need to go after terror . . . . but we ought to work to reduce all kinds.

rshowalter - 11:58am Sep 15, 2001 EST (#9095 of 9096)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

This is just as true, and may be taken more seriously, now:
MD8409 rshowalter 9/3/01 11:26pm

We should work to fix things now -- not go on making them worse. . . .

By facing some facts gracefully -- facts that are coming out anyway, and making reasonable accomodations, in the interests of the whole world, including nearly all American citizens, we could have a much safer, more reasonable world.

Missile defense is one of a number of interdependent issues.

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