New York Times on the Web Forums Science

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?

gisterme - 07:05pm Jun 11, 2001 EST (#4774 of 4794)

dirac wrote: "...But Russia didn't have the trained successful businessmen to impliment it..."

Seems that way, dirac. I suppose that after so many years of centralized ecomomy (as communists) preceded by a near medieval society for centuries, people in Russia aren't yet used to the idea of using their own personal gifts, skills and resources along with hard work to build thier own personal economic empires. I suppose it's easier for us in the west to do that because we've had several centuries of practice. I think the Russians will do fine eventually; they just have a legacy of isolation and years of incentive-killing economic indoctrination to overcome. It probably didn't serve Mr. Stalin's purpose to have folks doing much thinking for themselves. Dictatorships have never been hotbeds of creativity or innovation.

almarst-2001 - 07:16pm Jun 11, 2001 EST (#4775 of 4794)

gisterme 6/11/01 7:05pm

Your self appreciation would be funny if not for being so sad.

rshowalter - 07:25pm Jun 11, 2001 EST (#4776 of 4794)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I'm with you, almarst .

lunarchick - 07:31pm Jun 11, 2001 EST (#4777 of 4794)
lunarchick@www.com

I'm rolling on the floor laughing .. Down under .. you'd better belive it! Unadulterated entertainment!

rshowalter - 07:31pm Jun 11, 2001 EST (#4778 of 4794)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD1794 rshowalter 3/30/01 2:24pm

For some summaries, with linkages of the work that "lunarchick" and I have doing, you might be interested in the discussion, in Psychwarfare, Casablanca -- and terror http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@@.ee7a163/159

The first part of the thread, that connects to the movie Casablanca , may interest some as well. It gives reasons why to Cold War needs to be over.

MD1795 rshowalter 3/30/01 2:34pm

rshowalter - 07:37pm Jun 11, 2001 EST (#4779 of 4794)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

A logically incremental approach to getting more truth into a "culture of lying" would help in many ways.

MD4742-4747 rshowalter 6/11/01 1:01pm

If Bush and Putin could agree on nothing else -- perhaps they could agree to this. It would be inexpensive, technically -- and if reasonable mechanisms for feedback and checking were in existence, much else might come into workable focus.

gisterme - 07:38pm Jun 11, 2001 EST (#4780 of 4794)

alty53 wrote: "...why not have a real debate about nuclear tipped missiles in space rather than a phony debate about shooting down missiles with missiles....."

I don't think there's any debate about that alty53 because nobody has proposed putting nuclear tipped missiles on space platforms as far as I know. I think that's your proposal. Of course, if a MIRVd ICBM were launched then there would a platform full of nuclear warheads in space for a short time.

Technology has developed to the point where it's no longer necessary to use a nuke to destroy an ICBM. Dirac's right about that.

rshowalter - 07:43pm Jun 11, 2001 EST (#4781 of 4794)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Nasty as this thread sometimes is in terms of human contacts there's been progress since it started, and expecially since almarst joined in in early March.

(13 following messages)

New York Times on the Web Forums Science Missile Defense