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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 - 10:19am Jul 10, 2003 EST (# 12925 of 12931)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

Thomas Keneally (Shindler'sListAuthor) On Australia's attitude to Refuges from the Middle East

""Keneally's book, The Tyrant's Novel, fictionalises the issue of asylum seekers, examining how a tyrant forces his people to flee. "I decided to write a book that was a fable of the wellsprings of tyranny, a fable, too, of the way tyrants generate refugees whose validity is then denied by governments outside," he said.

Keneally said it cost as much to house an asylum seeker on Christmas Island or Nauru under the Government's "Pacific Solution" as it would to put them through a medical degree at Sydney University "with beer money on the side".

Thomas K said 'The Southern Sunni population of Iraq has parallels with peoples of the UK Commonwealth - they were the administrators - set in the UK tradition.'

In his latest book he gives the ME people regular 'western' names ... to get the reader to see them as 'people' - like themselves.

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On the current Iraq situation - in relation to Saddam an analysis of the 'way he kept power' should be done and TOLD on, with an update of his current tactics --- and for what?

It seeams Saddam is behind the current destruction of Infrastructure - power lines, water pipes. The question is WHY?

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The pack of cards concept has fired the imagination ....maybe there are other known and understood game structures that could be adapted towards educating for progress.

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Worries of the people might be looked at in relation to the Maslow tiers:

• Short term survival and basic services has been first concern.
• Medium concerns - relate to life normalisation including access to education
• Longer term - fullfillment of plans to maximise potentials of family members in all walks of life.

lchic - 10:50am Jul 10, 2003 EST (# 12926 of 12931)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

The advancement of people depends on the 'base' they come off. The Germans and Japanese may have had a sound-base start ... whereas .... in areas of the Middle East the people have not culturally been a part of as advanced an economy, and lack sophisticted modern workplace skills.

Visiting 'religion' - a history as to the when and why's (advantages of) that suited historical times - and lead to a 'system' should be considered. What was the function of this as against that blanket religion.

How to make the average citizen a STAKEHOLDER in the future is important ... what is the future-culture and how will Iraqi people come to OWN it?

The figures for National Growth for countries coming off a low economic base - the Returns on Investment - look impressive percentage wise. How could STATS be used to indicate progress?

The concern is - how to get people on board their own camel train of future culture, how to get them to take the responsibility of ownership, how to let them understand the 'concept of the general good' that respects (not trashes)collective interests and ownerships.

How to make the average Iraqi a 'shareholder' in aspects of future destiny. How to get dividends and see share value of the common future grow. How at the individual level to register a stake in a growing project. One way would be to literally write shares to regional-municipal entities to generate an income stream to assist with expenses commonly covered by rates.

Say the 'lost fortune' of Saddam were to be found and re-introduced -- used to set up new entities. Where there were shares issued, or allocated, the people should be interested in stability that enables growth.

lchic - 10:52am Jul 10, 2003 EST (# 12927 of 12931)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

Keneally

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/09/1057430274527.html

rshow55 - 01:39pm Jul 10, 2003 EST (# 12928 of 12931)
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.

ExxonMobil's Op ed today

. A look back at a look ahead http://www.exxonmobil.com/corporate/files/corporate/100703.pdf

is interesting. The graph particularly. World total proved oil reserves are about 1.2 trillion barrels - about 700 billion of that from the Middle East.

Somebody owns those reserves, and the valuation of the reserves in the ground is based on expectations.

A change in expectations that changed the value of those reserves by $1/barrell would reduce the valuation that specific people own by 1.2 trillion dollars - 400 times the annual gross sales of The New York Times Co.

"30 Billion Dollars to help fight a war on criticism" is relatively small by some standards http://www.theonion.com/onion3925/bush_asks_congress.html

What does it cost holders of oil reserves to support global warming control via oil conservation - or new technologies that would reduce the price of oil? A lot.

How far is altruism and public responsibility supposed to go?

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