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Missile Defense

Technology has always found its greatest consumer in a nation's war and defense efforts. Since the last attempts at a "Star Wars" defense system, has technology changed considerably enough to make the latest Missile Defense initiatives more successful? Can such an application of science be successful? Is a militarized space inevitable, necessary or impossible?

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almarst2003 - 07:32am Mar 20, 2003 EST (# 10256 of 10257)

"The Treaty of Westphalia has failed"

Even if true, does it mean any small nation is now up for grabs by the mighty?

rshow55 - 07:44am Mar 20, 2003 EST (# 10257 of 10257)
Can we do a better job of finding truth? YES. Click "rshow55" for some things Lchic and I have done and worked for on this thread.

It better not be as simple as that - and if Russia, China, and EU countries are at all careful - it won't be like that. But people - including leaders - and surely including Blair and Bush - have to be responsible for what they say and do - and there have to be some limits on the right to lie - that transcend borders.

Unless we can anchor discourse on some agreed upon facts - set out and reinforced according to the standards that work for human beings (that is, the standards actually needed in jury trials) there is no solution.

If the basic principle that the Treaty of Westphalia has failed is accepted - workable negotiations could begin immediately - and everything is in place for a very stable, much better set of arrangements.

4419 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@28.duz4a2Mz59j.301635@.f28e622/5584 includes a very wrenching quote for Goering - http://www.subvertise.org/details.php?code=453 that illustrates how utterly unstable conditions are under current rules. We have to do better.

When things are complicated, truth is our only hope: http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?8@@.ee7a163/296

And a substantial hope.

Almarst , Putin and others aren't dealing with Hitler - they're dealing with Bush and Blair who, faults and all - work hard for what they think is right. You may not like them. But if people have good sense, and negotiate decently - a lot could get much better.

Some old patterns, which have long paralyzed the world - are now broken. We need new patterns better patterns - and while they are being renegotiated there's reason to fear chaos.

But we can do much better than that.

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