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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 - 10:09pm Sep 19, 2001 EST (#9505 of 9524)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

FBI Definition Of Terrorism

" The unlawful use of force or violence committed by a group or individual, who has some connection to a foreign power or whose activities transcend national boundaries, against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government,the civilian population or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives." -FBI Policy and Guidelines", Feb. 16th, 1999

Except that military force is "lawful" in some sense (and that sense is very unclear) -- what's the difference between "terrorism" and "military action?"

That's something we need to clarify.

almart's definition of "terrorism" includes bombing. Why is this wrong?

Perhaps the FBI definition is defective? If so, is there a better definition?

Is there "good" violence in furtherance of political or social objectives . . . . and "bad" violence in furtherance of political or social objectives?

If so, what makes the "good" violence "good" ?

. . . . . .

Related question -- why shouldn't a nation state adopt what it likes of the tactics of "terrorism" ?

We need answers that we can explain to Afghanis, and others. Some of these people are not too sophisticated, but they are in harm's way. And many of these people may be hurt or killed, or have loved ones hurt or killed. We need to explain to them how bad "terrorism" is, and how it is bad, and different that terrorism is from the "infinite justice" of our military action.

. . .

My own view is that injury and killing are bad things. It seems to me that a useful index of "how bad?" involves counting of cases of injured and killed, and an evaluation of THREATS of injury and murder.

lunarchick - 10:16pm Sep 19, 2001 EST (#9506 of 9524)
lunarchick@www.com

$$$refugees$$$

Ms Short, who spoke out against indiscriminate military strikes on Afghanistan, described the situation in the overflowing refugee camps along the borders of neighbouring countries "as the consequence of 22 years of war and four years of drought".

With the UN expecting up to 1.5m refugees to flee Afghanistan in the coming months, Britain will almost double its financial support, currently £32m, to the region. Ms Short said she was confident that other countries would follow Britain's lead. The extra cash will be channelled through the UN and aid agencies, to help neighbouring countries such as Pakistan, Turkistan and Iran cope with the mass exodus that began as military tensions mounted in the aftermath of last week's attacks. The region is estimated to have food supplies for only a month. A million refugees are expected to arrive in Pakistan, 400,000 into Iran, and the remainder into Tajikistan and Turkmenistan

lunarchick - 10:32pm Sep 19, 2001 EST (#9507 of 9524)
lunarchick@www.com

Sikhs in a temple Sikh Afghans sit in their temple in the Afghan capital, Kabul. According to the Taliban's religious police minister, Mohammed Wali, Hindus living in Afghanistan will be required to wear identity labels on their clothing to distinguish them from Muslims. Photo: Amir Shah, AP

[ back to the star of David !!???!! ]

----

Going back to 1947, the first leader of Pakistan (on a documentary i saw) said he asked for a separate Pakistan .. as something to demand .. didn't really want it ... was just into negotiation. He got it. Blood letting followed. The Indians now, quite rightly, point out that they are a pluralistic Nation_state .. have more muslims than Pakistan. Would seem logical to re-unite into some sort of federation countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Kashmire and Pakistan.

On Afghanistan currently ... the population who are there .. seemingly shouldn't be there .. and the refugee population who have been displaced should be able to go home .. in peace.

What is the current gross national income of Afghanistan .. if the workers have been tipped out, famine has be in (4 years) ... and the largest employer after government with dark_secret_service_police may be OBL with his small army.

lunarchick - 10:38pm Sep 19, 2001 EST (#9508 of 9524)
lunarchick@www.com

An important thing to remember about national leaders is that they most likely went into Universities in Europe or the USA. In those colleges of learning they all read from the same page ... studied the same subjects .. including International Relations .. and would have had an ethical aesthetic wrt how to lead, what the 'people' want; have looked at a history of sucessful and unsucessful leaders and know why the latter failed; have an understanding of national progress.

Good leadership should be rowing in the same direction ... whooops backwards ... yet the craft should be sailing forward ... life's filled with contradictions. And boats are not to be rocked, yet abandoned when sinking. Strategy is the big word .. yet weakening and disempowering neighbours -- as seen via WTC -- is actually disempowering and weakening home nations.

lunarchick - 10:40pm Sep 19, 2001 EST (#9509 of 9524)
lunarchick@www.com

Proportion of refugees to population in:

Tanzania 1:76

Britain 1:530

Australia 1:1583

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