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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 - 08:21pm Sep 18, 2001 EST (#9412 of 9420)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I'm reading, too. And trying to think some things through.

I'll say this. The material in the Special Section: NAZI WAR CRIMINALS IN BRITIAN http://www.guardian.co.uk/nazis/ should give pause to people who think the world has to stop everything to give us justice.

Justice is a high value. We need more of it.

But it needs to be balanced, not selective.

Thinking about the way the NAZIs have been coddled, in the US, UK, and elsewhere - - it doesn't make Bin Laden look like a saint. But it does give one pause.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

But we can't forget the wrongs, either.

We need more right answers, intellectually and morally.

We need MORE justice. For that to work, we can't be immune.

rshowalter - 08:40pm Sep 18, 2001 EST (#9413 of 9420)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Deterrance, and reasonable balances, don't have to be nuclear. And with sensible arrangements, we don't need unworkable stunts like "missile defense" either. But we do need deterrance, that makes practical sense. Along with ways to please each other, not just hurt each other, if our interactions are to be at all sophisticated. It isn't, however, necessary for us to like each other, or agree with each other, about too much.

MD4004 rshowalter 5/16/01 8:19pm ... MD4006 rshowalter 5/16/01 8:21pm
MD4007 rshowalter 5/16/01 8:23pm ... MD4009 rshowalter 5/16/01 8:32pm

MD4040 gisterme 5/17/01 12:08pm ... MD4043 rshowalter 5/17/01 12:57pm
MD4044 rshowalter 5/17/01 12:57pm ... MD4045 rshowalter 5/17/01 1:06pm

MD4046 rshowalter 5/17/01 1:19pm ... MD4047 rshowalter 5/17/01 1:21pm

lunarchick - 08:43pm Sep 18, 2001 EST (#9414 of 9420)
lunarchick@www.com

Parry's book

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Culturally attired muslim women in Australia aren't keen to venture out in public. As in the US there have been incidents! The head scarf is seen to represent 'Other' culture .. and how much 'other' culture can our pluralistic society absorb?

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One reason why there's resentment re MidEast culture has been a spate of gang rapes against Australian girls. (See similar reported in the Netherlands Media) The law in Australia has now been adjusted. Any one taking part in a gang rape can face a penalty of LIFE imprisonment. They are after all destroying the life of their victim.

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The improved penatly - will it counter balance the 'pressure' on immature_minded_male individuals in gangs to fully participate in evil ?

lunarchick - 09:56pm Sep 18, 2001 EST (#9415 of 9420)
lunarchick@www.com

Nauru ... How will the world's smallest island country cope with an Afghan refugee camp on their island? What's if the refugees refuse to get off the boat? How much is all this costing?

Nauruans say they will be looking over the wire with envy, as the three square meals per day are served up!

rshowalter - 09:58pm Sep 18, 2001 EST (#9416 of 9420)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

On issues of military and nuclear balances, "no solution as stated:" ...
We need a reframing: MD8300-3 rshowalter 9/1/01 3:52pm

American institutional and intellectual traditions, admirable in many ways, but shaped by the Cold War, may be standing in the way of safety now, in

MD8698 rshowalter 9/9/01 11:56am .

MD8699 rshowalter 9/9/01 1:11pm .

Perhaps, ugly though things are, we can find some practical ways of making them better. We have to have a plainly better society, to show the world. And we have to find ways to make things better for people, angry people, who are now, in Fanon's terms, "the wretched of the earth."

We need to remember conflict, but it would be good if we'd remember some warmer things, as well.

MD2665 rshowalter 4/27/01 5:30pm

MD3384 rshowalter 5/6/01 8:37pm

MD3523 rshowalter 5/8/01 4:12pm

Out.

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