New York Times on the Web Forums Science

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 - 05:01pm May 9, 2002 EST (#2119 of 2131)

There's 'no such thing' - ^{http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=nervous%20breakdown} - must have related to 'overload'.

lchic - 05:06pm May 9, 2002 EST (#2120 of 2131)

Plotted to kill an Afghan Overlord this week ..

your former employer

lchic - 05:18pm May 9, 2002 EST (#2121 of 2131)

"" ... Mr Arafat is "between the hammer and the anvil", said a soap factory owner, Jihad Hamdan, 33. "If he condemns terror, his people would not accept that. If he does not, America and Israel will pressure him." http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=293511
.... Palestinian liberal intellectuals .. blame part of the endemic corruption on the Oslo accords, overseen by the US, with close involvement from the CIA. ""

rshow55 - 05:25pm May 9, 2002 EST (#2122 of 2131)

manjumicha2001 5/9/02 12:56pm ... " I wouldn't worry too much about investors who lost money."

MD2116 rshow55 5/9/02 9:34am . . includes this:

AEA was an effort to . . . . to demonstrate a new engineering business structure generalizing Lockheed's "skunk works" ....

Generalizing that business structure so that is was more flexible, and so that invention could be applied to "reinvent" and optimize already ongoing industries and products, as well as new ones, in ways where inventive approaches had not been workable before..

I downplayed that organizational risk, because I felt that, if we could deliver up to a technical standard, we'd get the backing we'd need through direct or indirect government assistance. I turned out to be wrong - and it was a fatal mistake.

My investors knew they were gambling, and could lose all their money. I told them that clearly. But they were involved with risks that they didn't fully understand, and they trusted me, and helped me, to an absolutely extraordinary extent. I've got good reasons to be concerned about, care about, guilty about. the investors who lost money. They were invested emotionally, not just financially, some of them worked hard, and did special things exactly because they trusted me, and what I told them of my judgement. They felt that I'd betrayed them, and also felt the pain of incomprehension -- some intensely. The financial losses, and for some who'd helped me most, the losses of face and business stature, were serious, were my fault, and I feel responsible. And should.

We learned a LOT about what certain kinds of breakthrough engineering were going to take. And learned a lot about what WAS possible. MD1152 rshow55 4/6/02 5:47pm

lchic - 05:34pm May 9, 2002 EST (#2123 of 2131)

Bush replied, “I’m never going to tell my friend, the prime minister (Sharon), what to do or how to handle his business.” http://www.economist.co.uk/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1119866 .. Bush administration is not pushing for a peace plan just now .. (Bush said Palestine needs )“the rule of law, transparency, a treasury that can battle corruption”

----

Don't they need an 'economy' to support a 'treasury' ?
... 'treasury' ...
Is BushSpeak confusing?
Does he means 'laws are goldenish rules'
But isn't there need for a dollar-treasury to make law?!

manjumicha2001 - 05:41pm May 9, 2002 EST (#2124 of 2131)

lchi

I see you have a problem with CIA sponsored operations in Afganistan and in other places but, notwithstanding some egregious screw-ups in the past, CIA must operate in a real world which is full of bad people. The Afgan war lord that was targeted has been trying to topple Kazai governemnt, kill US soliders and, plunge Afganistan into another round of civil war that preceded Taliban take-over in early 90s. He is not your regular guy on the street but a ruthless killer and leader of bandits. Itis just too bad they didn't get him.

manjumicha2001 - 05:43pm May 9, 2002 EST (#2125 of 2131)

CIA did not create the corruption in PLO. It has to deal with the colorful characters as they come and it is not CIA's job to reform any of those characters where their moms and dads and preachers (or some other equivalent of it) failed to do so

lchic - 05:56pm May 9, 2002 EST (#2126 of 2131)

It's important to get economies 'up' and 'running' then these 'bad guys' can turn their attention to 'regular white collar crime' .. earning only a slap on the wrists re disapproval!

lchic - 05:59pm May 9, 2002 EST (#2127 of 2131)

Mary-Bill-Poppins has put $50m to put micro-nutrients into the foodstuffs of 'world-poor-children' which will make an 'enormous differences' the their life chances.

Seems the macro application of worthwhile simple innovation can do a lot to assist living/livability in the world.

(4 following messages)

New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense