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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 - 07:13pm Mar 9, 2001 EST (#902 of 903)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

So why aren't basic facts checked? Why aren't basic questions, such as those in almarstel2001 3/9/01 4:59pm answered?

Ive come to wonder if the answers make sense, in terms of the interests of the world, or the interests of the United States.

Could people be acting irrationally, because theyve done things that they cannot admit having done? Or are they acting rationally, in their private interests, but against the interests of the nation and the world, because they have done things that they cannot admit having done?

There may be other explanations, but that is an explanation that occurs to me.

Nuclear weapons should have come down, long sense. The Generals responsible for the weapons may feel that most keenly of all. Here is a text adaptation of CNNs Special Report, REHEARSING DOOMSDAY... which aired Sunday, October 15, 2000 at 10 p.m. EDT.

As for conventional weapons, I don't see the need for a US expenditure 10 times larger than the military budgets of all our potential enemies.

Perhaps there is a reason beyond the desire of people doing jobs to keep on doing them

I think a strong, effective US military force is essential. In rshowalter 2/19/01 12:29pm I asked:

" How about promoting the peace, comfort and safety of the United States? In a world that is stable, and with our military functioning in ways that make Americans proud, and other nations respectful, according to American ideals? ...... For that, the military budget might be worth every penny. But by that standard, there is thinking to do, and new beauty must be found, where ugliness now exists.

The defense we have now seems maladapted, and not worth the money. Ugliness, in the sense of disproportion, is what now exists.

almarstel2001 asks a good question. It is a question not only for other nations, but for citizens of the United States, as well. Some of the things being done seem so ugly, in the sense of disproportionate, that I sometimes wonder if people are acting in their private interests, but against the real interests of this nation and the world.

rshowalter - 07:30pm Mar 9, 2001 EST (#903 of 903)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

The appearance of impropriety certainly exists. Semantic usages and evasions that would be hard to explain to a school class seem well entrenched. And the amounts of money involved are amply large to produce either conscious or unconscious corruption, or both. Elder Bush in Big G.O.P. Cast Toiling for Top Equity Firm .... by By LESLIE WAYNE ..... NYT . . . . March 5, 2001

That equity firm specializes in the defense industry, which depends on government decisions. And reports say the the average partner in the firm may have made more than a hundred million dollars from their roles as "investment advisors."

One also wonders about other coincidences. In August and September of last year, there were moves in oil prices that did not seem well explained at the time. Could communications from the Carlyle Group or similar organizations have been misinterpreted, to produce an inadvertent result? They might be blameless. But as a matter of mechanics, they would have been well placed to produce such an inadvertent result. One wonders how clear foreign dignitaries are about the distinction between such a group, staffed as it is, and the federal government, or the Republican party.

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