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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.

lchic - 02:31pm May 5, 2002 EST (#2020 of 2043)

......... bountiful as in any other region can never reach their full potential under repressive regimes. The last century has been so stagnant for the region not because of America, but because authoritarian governments strike bargains with religious leaders who often indulge in antimodernist religious education that produces poverty.

This is one of his many trips to Indonesia and he is excited at watching the largest Muslim country in the world reform its institutions and reach out to the world. The ideas of religious freedom, individual liberty and responsibility are not incompatible with Islam but he is full of regret that much of the Muslim world has turned its back on the classical liberal tradition practiced by Muslim societies in the past.

He is quick to remind that the Muslim world reached the zenith of its influence in the Middle Ages when it preserved the best of classical Greek and Roman teachings and inspired breakthroughs in mathematics, science, medicine and philosophy. That is also when Islam was at its most open to the world when it enriched and was enriched by the Christian, Greek and Jewish communities in its midst and when it was actively trading with all corners of the world.

Apart from dreaming of making globalization work what preoccupies him is also the future of US-Muslim relations. He is most interested in finding out what the reaction of a cross section of Indonesians is to September 11 and their opinion of America. During his travels he has found an iron wall of misunderstanding between America and the Muslim world.

"Just go anywhere Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and you'll hit your head against this wall," he says adding that it has taken many hands to build this wall, blaming American officials for failing to speak out against Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and depriving Palestinians of any potential homeland.

America's Muslim allies also helped to erect this wall. Their leaders have encouraged the press to print the worst lies about America as easy excuses for why they never have to look at themselves.

And for lending a ear to everyone Friedman has built up quite a following of foes as well as friends, making his wife and two daughters proud of the three times Pulitzer Prize winner but also worried about his constant wanderings around the world. "" [ my italic emphasis ]

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailfeatures.asp?fileid=20020505.B01

http://www.abyznewslinks.com/indon.htm

rshow55 - 02:39pm May 5, 2002 EST (#2021 of 2043)

Listening to the Future? by THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/05/opinion/05FRIE.html is a fine piece by Friedman, and http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailfeatures.asp?fileid=20020505.B01 is impressive, and a sign of hope.

America tells lies to itself and others on occasion, and sometimes big ones. They mess a lot up, and cause plenty of horror. All the same, if you actually "count delusions" -- the US is probably one of the cleaner, more clear nations around. At least about the things it does well (and there are many). That is, the incidence of delusion is less here than many other places -- high as it is.

MD638-639 rshow55 3/17/02 7:45pm includes this.

"When I read DeMause, I thought this --- if what he says is true, the catalepsy of some countries and cultures - - including Islamic cultures - their inability to show the economic growth one would expect, may be in large part due to having such a huge framework of lies and brutal usages, that there is just not the common ground, and respect for truth, that the complex cooperation of modern economic life takes."

If we found the resources to tell the truth -- the whole truth, on some issues where we were criticised -- and asked for the same from the Islamic world -- a lot might sort out - in ways of interest to all.

The world could be MUCH more beautiful - from our point of view, and from the point of view of many different cultures, all over the world - if we solved some technical problems about getting facts to closure -- and if we found ways, more often, to get people to "collect the dots" and "connect the dots" so that they agreed on enough so that they could cooperate when they had to - - and solve problems peacefully and productively more often. MD671-672 rshow55 3/18/02 1:01pm

Lately, I've been feeling hopeful that we might find those ways.

lchic - 02:42pm May 5, 2002 EST (#2022 of 2043)

Links
^{http://dpls.dacc.wisc.edu/apdu/forgn_index.html}

lchic - 02:46pm May 5, 2002 EST (#2023 of 2043)

When the East Timor Massacres-Vandalism-Trashings happened various faces of Indonesia were on show - inter-related with the misuse of power, greed and corruption.

rshow55 - 02:48pm May 5, 2002 EST (#2024 of 2043)

Thanks for http://dpls.dacc.wisc.edu/apdu/forgn_index.html ... !

lchic - 02:51pm May 5, 2002 EST (#2025 of 2043)

Internet - comparative - world accesss / usage

^{http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/whats_happening/research/pdf_res_notes/rn00-53.pdf}

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