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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?

Read Debates, a new Web-only feature culled from Readers' Opinions, published every Thursday.

almarst2002 - 01:13pm May 25, 2003 EST (# 11996 of 12022)

The Bush administration, alarmed by intelligence suggesting that al Qaeda operatives in Iran had a role in the May 12 suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia, has suspended once-promising contacts with Iran and appears ready to embrace an aggressive policy of trying to destabilize the Iranian government, administration officials said. - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35772-2003May24.html

Who is to say the US ought to respect ANY government? Or LAW for that matter?

Welcome to the 21 Century - Backward.

robkettenburg03 - 02:16pm May 25, 2003 EST (# 11997 of 12022)

BLAST KILLS FOUR ON MIAMI CRUISE SHIP (I'm sure it was just a COINCIDENCE) - http://apnews.excite.com/article/20030525/D7R8FG300.html

My Home Page - http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/robkettenburg

lchic - 04:49pm May 25, 2003 EST (# 11998 of 12022)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

"We actually get rid of nonperforming assets."

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/25/weekinreview/25LEON.html

A wake-up call for ________ !

lchic - 04:52pm May 25, 2003 EST (# 11999 of 12022)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

UK Parliament ....

""So incensed are MPs about the lack of consultation that they are now carrying out their own inquiry

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=409374

- - - - - - - -

meantime back in the USA .... zzzZZZZZzzzz ...

lchic - 05:33pm May 25, 2003 EST (# 12000 of 12022)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

One hundred dozen ...

Wrapped or eat here?

rshow55 - 05:47pm May 25, 2003 EST (# 12001 of 12022)
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.

Lchic:

" There are things that NEED to be done, that SHOULD be done, that HAVE to be done ..... yet those who should be doing them, those with the means ... are failing to recognise the problem - thus failing to work towards the solutions necessary to .. say 'upgrade' existance.

" Begs the question - what needs to be done, what needs to be worked towards, what are the basics that will upgrade humanity ...

... Energy, food, clothing, shelter, and security ?

11920 http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?8@13.TbJjbqdtanY.1915222@.f28e622/13545

A big thing is to see how often the "technically possible" and the "socially possible" diverge. And to understand more clearly why it happens, and how to make the divergence less.

Now, the idea that such distinctions need to be made seems "unAmerican" - but between 1935 and 1965 essentially everybody would have believed that this kind of question was a reasonable question. Including all senior military officers.

There were plenty of bad things about the 50's - but one good thing was a TV show - Dragnet.

Jack Webb's show always started with this:

"The story you are about to see is true . The names have been changes to protect the innocent.

People, some more innocent, some less, can have more or less serious reasons to be concerned about having their names named in stories. Including true ones.

With complicated stories, that go on a long time - that are much condensed - there are also problems with what is "true" in true in what ways.

But some things are solid. Some things, once seen, are simple - and true for all time. And useful.

Key formulas, like f = ma are like that. Useful for all time.

Technologies that solve the problems they deal with uniquely and well (like the railroad) are like that, too.

We need more solutions like that in

energy, food, water supply, security,

and in

some general problems of complex cooperation.

I think there's good reason to hope for a lot of progress, in practical terms, pretty soon.

(21 following messages)

New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense