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Missile Defense

Russian military leaders have expressed concern about US plans for a national missile defense system. Will defense technology be limited by possibilities for a strategic imbalance? Is this just SDI all over again?

rshowalter - 08:05pm Jun 10, 2001 EST (#4712 of 4719)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

! is beautiful !

Power Relations: Berle's Laws of Power:
MD1066 rshowalter 3/16/01 5:36am

rshowalter - 08:05pm Jun 10, 2001 EST (#4713 of 4719)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

The world views of the Russians and Americans each have some of the truth, but not all of it. Reframings that preserve what works well empirically, for both systems, might well improve things. MD1144 rshowalter 3/17/01 8:04pm

rshowalter - 08:06pm Jun 10, 2001 EST (#4714 of 4719)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD1143 rshowalter 3/17/01 8:03pm:

" At least three kinds of (correct) views are required for a reasonably good understanding of heirarchically structured systems (such as all sociotechnical systems) with interfaces of mutual constraint. These kinds of views are: synoptic, piecewise, and structural.

Forget them, or get them wrong, in a complex system - and you may delude yourself and anyone who trusts you. If you don't have the ability to put such views together for a circumstance --- then you don't understand it and ought to understand it before you judge it -- especially if you are a leader.

rshowalter - 08:07pm Jun 10, 2001 EST (#4715 of 4719)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD1912 rshowalter 4/2/01 2:29pm

rshowalter - 08:08pm Jun 10, 2001 EST (#4716 of 4719)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD3987 rshowalter 5/16/01 6:35pm
Central to almarst's concerns, which should be concerns for us all, are the points set out in Paul Weaver's NEWS AND THE CULTURE OF LYING: How Journalism Really Works --- Free Press, 1994. --- And the adaptations of the "military industrial complex" to this "culture of lying."

But the mechanisms on which this "culture" is based can be deeply undermined by the extended memory, and expanded ability to handle complexity, that the internet makes possible.

rshowalter - 08:10pm Jun 10, 2001 EST (#4717 of 4719)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Conflict Resolution: MD1290 lunarchick 3/22/01 6:08am

rshowalter - 08:11pm Jun 10, 2001 EST (#4718 of 4719)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

What's NATO for, anyway ?
MD3983 rshowalter 5/16/01 6:06pm

If the purpose is to create a perception and reality of comfort with respect to Russia, how could that comfort, both in reality and in perception, be achieved more sensibly, justly, and cheaply?

rshowalter - 08:13pm Jun 10, 2001 EST (#4719 of 4719)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD3658: rshowalter 5/10/01 2:45pm
People have to get comfortable with new ideas, a step of the time, from where they are, as they are.

World military balances exist, and change in them must come, without violating Berle's five basic rules of power, because effective human action requires them.

Ideas, ideology, and questions of fact all count here. The past was ugly for reasons, and the future can be better.
MD2195 rshowalter 4/12/01 8:18pm . . . MD2196 rshowalter 4/12/01 8:19pm

That is, if we find the strength to send in clear, so we don't delude each other, and don't set up avoidable fights.

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