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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 - 11:15am Mar 19, 2001 EST (#1175 of 1188)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

almarst-2001 3/19/01 10:27am

you ask KEY questions, and I'm thinking hard about responding in a way most useful, and especially most useful to you.

My objective is down-to-earth -- it is the question -- "How do we get enough of the truth established, in the matters that concern military balances, so that real progress toward a more sane, stable world is possible?

rshowalter - 11:27am Mar 19, 2001 EST (#1176 of 1188)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

There are lies here, there are deceptions, there are gross injustices, and there are also misunderstandings along a spectrum from entirely innocent to entirely self serving.

You need to have enough command of details, and enough ability to establish facts before witnesses, to be able to establish these differences.

almarst-2001 - 11:40am Mar 19, 2001 EST (#1177 of 1188)

rshowalter 3/19/01 11:15am

One of the interesting aspects of scientific analisys is an attempt to apply a better known and established model from one environment to another. As we know, it frequently works to some degree of precision, particlularely when some constant transformation model is applyed. For example, the form of a cristal follows the form of its molecules. The hydrodinamics may be used to study the aerodinamics etc.

In our case, the more interesting observations may relate to the behavieral dynamics of organisation and an individual. There are large number of social and psychological studies related to individual human beings, but I never heard of their application to larger organisations like tribes, societies and nations.

My intuitive feeling is there must be some (may be even large) correlation. If you aggree, we can take a closer look on such studies and try to build some models usefull for our discussion, which, from missiles defence, had drifted more and more into what I would call inter-national behavier.

almarst-2001 - 11:58am Mar 19, 2001 EST (#1178 of 1188)

May be we can even scale the nations' "personalities" like a Type "A", or "B" or "C" Male etc?;)

rshowalter - 12:05pm Mar 19, 2001 EST (#1179 of 1188)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Maybe, but I want to get to the specifics of the nuclear terror, and policy decision made from the early 1950's on - especially those which have been consistent, and operationally out of the control of US presidents. When the basic facts and patterns are clear, the logic of the situation, in the interest of the entire world (Americans, too) shifts toward peace.

rshowalter - 12:08pm Mar 19, 2001 EST (#1180 of 1188)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I'd like to refer back to "one loaf of bread" - getting some key facts straight is going to require a good bit of staff work -- the suggestion I've made, about getting that done "in clear," on the internet, and with journalists much involved, still makes sense to me.

rshowalter - 12:30pm Mar 19, 2001 EST (#1181 of 1188)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

If you think that will happen spontaneously, without some help (and a few phone calls from a leader to any of a number of people could work wonders) then you don't understand some crucial things about how our system works.

I'm convinced that you don't understand some crucial things about how our human systems work.

rshowalter - 12:31pm Mar 19, 2001 EST (#1182 of 1188)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I'll be back in an hour.

almarst-2001 - 12:34pm Mar 19, 2001 EST (#1183 of 1188)

rshowalter 3/19/01 12:30pm

"I'm convinced that you don't understand some crucial things about how our human systems work."

Agree.

almarst-2001 - 01:00pm Mar 19, 2001 EST (#1184 of 1188)

Missile Shield (by CONSPIRACY GUY;) - http://www.spacecast.com/cg/rants/currentrant.asp

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