New York Times on the Web
Forums Science
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.
(5117 previous messages)
rshow55
- 04:28pm Oct 22, 2002 EST (#
5118 of 5143) 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 #1720 rshow55
4/23/02 8:13pm
lchic 4/23/02 4:44pm lchic
4/23/02 4:44pm
On Kissinger: Thomas L Friedman's review of
Kissenger's Does America Need a Foreign Policy
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/k/kissinger-01policy.html
...is titled How to Run the World in Seven Chapters http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/06/17/reviews/010617.17friedmt.html
Friedman's review includes this:
" What was said of " The Prince ,''
as Harvey C. Mansfield Jr. of Harvard University explains in
his translation, will no doubt be said by critics of
Kissinger, Mansfield wrote: ''Soon after being published in
1532,'' Machiavelli's book ''was denounced as a collection
of sinister maxims and as a recommendation of tyranny,
giving rise to the hateful term 'Machiavellian.' ''
Kissinger's book is not a recommendation for tyranny in any
way, but it is very ''Kissingerian'' -- focused more around
power balances, stability and national interests than
American values. I have no doubt that Kissinger is as
cynical, mean and nasty a bureaucratic infighter and player
of the game of nations as his most venomous critics have
charged. At times, he can make Machiavelli sound like one of
the Sisters of Mercy. But having said that, one can
still value the clarity of his thinking, which is fully on
display here.
Clear thinking and all - - we have a right to ask for
better performance now - and we need to acknowledge our own
faults - - some of the things that the US has done are as
terrible as anything that Saddam has done.
Md 63-67 rshow55
3/2/02 7:21am
MD64 lchic
3/2/02 7:28am
Md 67-69 rshow55
3/2/02 8:29am includes this:
The following was, for a time, featured on the wonderful
and distinguished Encyclopedia Britannica web site. It
has been removed, and links to it are not available. I'm
including it here, because it gathers together wonderful
references (some removed, but many remaining) that I believe
are important to see, when one asks about what Friedman meant
when he said that he had
" no doubt that Kissinger is as cynical,
mean and nasty a bureaucratic infighter and player of the
game of nations as his most venomous critics have charged.
At times, he can make Machiavelli sound like one of the
Sisters of Mercy. . . ."
Henry Kissinger on Trial: A Guide to the Controversy
Surrounding the Diplomat February 2001
rshow55
- 05:27pm Oct 22, 2002 EST (#
5119 of 5143) 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.
We tolerate Kissinger in our midst - and sometimes listen
to him.
The dislocations in the United States might be
inconvenient, and not worth the cost - if we did not do so.
Are the principles so very different in our dealing with
Saddam ?
I believe that Bill Casey thought of himself as a war
criminal among many other things - - and felt that he
was, in the situation of the Cold War, doing the best he
could.
But I believe that in the current situation - he'd
expect improved standards of performance. Casey was, in
addition, a very "idealistic" head of the S.E.C. - and
sentimental in many ways.
If Saddam is dangerous now and in the future - by
reasonable standards - then that is a problem, and a
problem as big as it happens to be. Justice is something to be
weighed, as well. But if the US cannot convince the rest of
the world, in this matter - then a lot is at stake -
and we need to ask how many lives - American and others -
we're prepared to spend for "justice" - - and how well that
"justice" fits the circumstances of the case.
A symbol and synonym for justice involves balance -
- - we have to worry about balance in this case.
International law, and patterns of international order, are
being renegotiated . Either that, or they are being
undermined.
The whole world has worry which is happening.
(24 following messages)
New York Times on the Web
Forums Science
Missile Defense
|