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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 - 11:46am Mar 31, 2001 EST (#1826 of 1833)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

A model system - Many of the problems that are having to be handled, in a scientific culture, are of the same form as the most essential problems involved in a military paradigm change, where military forces have to adapt to new challenges, and learn to work more flexibly, and more "in clear" than they now do. rshowalter 2/18/01 3:55pm
rshowalter 2/18/01 4:01pm
rshowalter 2/18/01 4:02pm

"The big picture." : How do our military arrangements look, in terms of what our military is supposed to do for our country, and for the world? rshowalter 2/9/01 1:53pm And in terms of the totality of United States interests, and values, in the world? BEAUTY rshowalter 2/19/01 12:22pm

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. rshowalter 2/19/01 12:29pm

Nuclear tactics, on both sides, rely on deception, and must. Bluff is essential - the only possible "win" is a totally devastating first strike that catches the victim unaware. The deceptions, that apply to almost everything involved, at the levels of strategy, tactics and technical capability, go unchallenged and undiscussed. Openness is a force for stability and peace. A telling example. The US Military refuses to let any elected official except for the President so much as LOOK at its targeting maps of Russia ...... because "seeing is believing. " rshowalter 2/21/01 12:16pm The refusal, and related matters, are emphasised in Armed to Excess by BOB KERREY---- op ed, NYT, March 2nd , which makes clear Kerrey's opinion that nuclear weapons are still the largest risk we face.

rshowalter - 11:47am Mar 31, 2001 EST (#1827 of 1833)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

If we stopped trying to "build trust" and made reasonable accomodations based on the distrust and fear that actually exists much more beautiful solutions, for all involved, might become practical. rshowalter 2/21/01 2:00pm

Guardian Threads rshowalter 2/21/01 3:34pm

Paradigm conflict -- a summary and key references to our argument about it rshowalter 2/21/01 3:44pm

Neither information flows nor information-related defenses are the same as they were 30 years ago, when basic nuclear policies dealt with a more stable technical world. . . . . ( most defenses, in practice, are information-related defenses.) . . . An entirely nonlethal attack, in the cause of peace. rshowalter 2/21/01 4:28pm

To reduce threats, one needs to apply assurances that, in limited ways, for limited times, weapons are not going to be used. .... It is a FACT that the Russians, as a nation, feel that they have been, and still are, subject to an active first strike threat from the United States, and this fact can be checked. .... If the American people and their representatives knew this FACT, a redemptive solution to the current long-running nuclear terror, which could destroy the world, would be much closer than it is today. rshowalter 2/22/01 4:48am

I believe that everybody concerned about matters of defense, and especially nuclear deployments, should consider carefully the concerns about the “military-industrial complex” set out in the FAREWELL ADDRESS of President Dwight D. Eisenhower January 17, 1961. http://www.geocities.com/~newgeneration/ikefw.htm

We need to apply "the Golden Rule" to people as they are. It we did, the world would be delivered from nuclear destruction. And many of the ugliest aspects of our human condition in the world might be adressable, by the people involved, as they actually are, from where they are, step by step. I feel that if Psychwarfare, Casablanca -- and terror .... Gaurdian TALK http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@@.ee7a163/0 could be discussed, along with the movie, by Russians and Americans together, communication that might make us all safer, and happier, and richer, might come. Especially entries #13- #23 http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@@.ee7a163/12

The difficulties in Russia have been much greater than people expected a decade ago. Perhaps this is partly due to unresolved psychological damage, from a psychological warfare that was not resolved when it could have been resolved, and should have been. rshowalter 2/22/01 6:49pm

If one can justify a first strike with nuclear weapons one can, by a quick comparison, justify anything else. .. ...To say it is all right to use nuclear weapons under any circumstances is, pretty quickly, to throw out any workable judgements about better and worse in morality. . . . This is an important reason to want to rid the world of nuclear weapons, if we can. rshowalter 2/22/01 6:55pm
rshowalter 2/22/01 6:57pm

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