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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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rshow55 - 08:50pm Sep 15, 2002 EST (# 4328 of 4334)
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.

Missile defense matters - and looking back on the discussions of missile defense since September 2000 makes interesting reading. Spent some of today doing some of that reading. These pieces caught my interest.

Truth and Theology http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/31/opinion/L31THEO.html

Missile-Shield Logic http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/31/opinion/L31MISS.html

Silencing a Critic http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/30/opinion/L30MISS.html

'Wilson's Ghost': An Anti-Machiavellian Handbook By JAMES CHACE http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/29/books/review/29CHASET.html ... Robert S. McNamara and James G. Blight's new book embraces the Wilsonian notion that American foreign policy must be grounded on the bedrock of morality

we have to be careful about "throwing stones" Digital Defense By THOMAS FRIEDMAN http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/27/opinion/27FRIE.html ... "The more the Internet brings us together, the more vulnerable we are to a breakdown. The real threat to our country comes from cyberterrorists, not missiles"

M.I.T. Physicist Says Pentagon Is Trying to Silence Him By JAMES DAO http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/27/politics/27MISS.html ... A leading critic of the military's missile defense testing program has accused the Pentagon of trying to silence him

The case has raised questions about whether a document can be considered secret if it is widely available to the public.

Sure, It's Rocket Science, but Who Needs Scientists? By JAMES GLANZ http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/17/weekinreview/17GLAN.html

We Love the Liberties They Hate http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/30/opinion/30DOWD.html

A Time of Reckoning By FAWAZ A. GERGES

Whether Muslims in the Middle East and Asia accept that the American effort is not a battle against Islam will bear on their fate and also the success of the war against terrorism. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/08/opinion/08GERG.html

Yes, but What? by Thomas L. Friedman http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/05/opinion/05FRIE.html

Yes, America should look a little deeper into its policies and actions, but were not the only ones who need to look in the mirror.

It is vital that we get other nations, and other cultures, to consider and deal with their problems - - peace, decency, and prosperity require that - for them, and for the whole world.

That means that we have to be open and above board - - and on a number of key matters on which our honor and world stability depends, we have to "look in the mirror" too.

As Friedman says today in Going Our Way By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/15/opinion/15FRIE.html we are winning for good reasons, and in spite of problems, shortcomings, and faults.

What if truth broke out? What if people lied less, and checked things that mattered more - - even if it took some hard thought. (It might not take so very much, if we acknowledged our humanity.) Peace might break out, too.

Human actions work best according to the following pattern:

" Get scared .... take a good look ..... get organized ..... fix it .... recount so all concerned are "reading from the same page ...... go on to other things."

Maybe enough people are concerned enough for us to take a good, careful look at some things we've been ignoring. Some problems that have festered a long time might be soluble if that happened. rshow55 4/21/02 3:15pm

rshow55 - 08:56pm Sep 15, 2002 EST (# 4329 of 4334)
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 9/15/02 8:09pm - asks "how to think of America . . . " good question!

http://www.spectatoronline.com/2001-10-17/notebook_metrocolumn.html bears reading. There are plenty of things we do that people all over the world are for - - but we can make lethal mistakes, and sometimes do. And when we , and not only our enemies, are accomplished liars it can do a lot of lasting harm to weigh against any transient ease the lies give us.

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