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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 - 01:58am Oct 8, 2002 EST (# 4754 of 4757)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

"" Role of humor and satire:

... A lot of people in the Arab World and the Arab American community didn't like the title of the book. Casey Kassem, an Arab American radio music host, wrote me and said I shouldn't name it "I'm Glad I Look Like a Terrorist: Growing Up Arab in America." He said it should be, "I am not a Terrorist." But I understand the American sense of satire and the significant role that satire plays in our understanding of even the most serious afflictions that we face. .... I understand his humor. It's a statement on society. It make a political point. It makes a statement of free speech. It says something, even if he says it in the most abrasive manners.

That's what Americans do. That is what freedom permits. Humor can make a political or social point. Arabs are not allowed that kind of freedom.

The fact is that humor is the most poignant and effective way to make a political statement. It has a very sharp edge. It requires a true sense of intelligence, a certain higher level of intelligence that can only come from freedom of thought and expression. A freedom of thought that thrives on creativity and unrestricted thought and imagination to make the sharpest and clearest point. It can balance tragedy against reality. These are things that move people.

It's the ultimate form of free opinion. And the more of that kind of humor and satire that you have in a society, the freer that society is. The less humor and satire you have, the more restricted that society is.

The humor we see in the Arab World is funny, but it is not a humor that makes a statement on society, on politics, or on any of the issues that people who live in the Arab World see and feel every day.
http://www.hanania.com/caajc/media10171.htm

So when the humor equates with US humor - then 'democracy' will have been installed!

lchic - 02:01am Oct 8, 2002 EST (# 4755 of 4757)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

GU talk - Bush Speech http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?50@@.3ba7599e/0

lchic - 07:55am Oct 8, 2002 EST (# 4756 of 4757)
~~~~ It got understood and exposed ~~~~

Pilger docco

Shattered Dreams

The cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians is spiralling out of control. Hundreds are killed on both sides. For several weeks, it is war. But only nine years earlier, everything looked different…

Screening in As It Happened on SBS Television on Saturday, September 28th at 7.30pm, SHATTERED DREAMS examines the faltering, frustrating quest for peace in the Middle East and chronicles how the peace process begun at Oslo was endlessly threatened, and ultimately undone, by the dynamics of politics and violence on both sides.

As violence between Israelis and Palestinians continues, threatening the stability of the entire Middle East, it is hard to recall the great hopes raised by the Oslo accord in September 1993. Nine years ago, Oslo was heralded as an historic turning point in Arab-Israeli relations. U.S. President Bill Clinton called Oslo “the dawn of a new era” and “a shining moment of hope for the people of the Middle East – indeed, of the entire world.” What went wrong?

The Oslo accord agreement outlined a number of key concessions to be made by both Israel and the Palestinians. Israel agreed to recognise Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by beginning to withdraw from the cities of Gaza and Jericho – essentially exchanging land for peace. The Palestinians, meanwhile, recognised Israel’s right to exist while also renouncing the use of terrorism and its long-held call for Israel’s destruction.

However, over the following seven years the peace process encountered major setbacks. Perhaps the most devastating occurred in 1995 when Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist. His murder signalled the growing threat posed by radical nationalist factions among both Jews and Palestinians – groups that opposed all compromise between the two peoples and held profoundly divergent views on everything pertaining to the conflict.

It’s hard to believe that at one point, both Palestinians and Israelis agreed that it was time to put an end to decades of confrontation and conflict, and strive to live in peaceful co-existence, mutual dignity and security to achieve a lasting peace. With every new leader, and at virtually every step, the search for peace was undermined by violence, including countless suicide bombings.

With never-before-seen footage of Israeli – Palestinian negotiations and interviews with Shimon Peres, Yasser Arafat, Ehud Barak, Benjamin Netanyahu, Saeb Erekat and other key figures on both sides of the bargaining table, SHATTERED DREAMS provides unprecedented access to the decision making process that has brought Israel and the Palestinians to the brink of all-out war. Nine years after the peace process began, the dreams of Oslo lay shattered, the peace process moribund.

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That's the blurb - the reality is the nuclear-bully team took 80% of country --- not satisfied looks to next 10% .... and water sources ...

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