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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 - 09:01am Apr 25, 2001 EST (#2579 of 2586)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

rshowalter 4/23/01 10:47am
rshowalter 4/23/01 10:52am
rshowalter 4/23/01 10:53am

rshowalter - 09:01am Apr 25, 2001 EST (#2580 of 2586)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

rshowalter 3/4/01 11:46am
rshowalter 3/4/01 12:27pm
rshowalter 3/4/01 1:04pm

rshowalter - 09:02am Apr 25, 2001 EST (#2581 of 2586)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

rshowalter 4/24/01 6:42am
rshowalter 4/24/01 6:46am

rshowalter - 09:06am Apr 25, 2001 EST (#2582 of 2586)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

People, and professional groups, can be totally sure of their ground, and show a confidence that inspires confidence in others, because their "knowledge" "fits well in their heads" - in a subjective sense - because they have an enormous corpus of self consistent "information." Due to construction and matching in their own heads. Also due to an acceptance of what they've been told, and ideas mutually constructed by contact with the minds of the people in their culture.

In fact, people all though history have shown such confidence, even when the "knowledge" in question was entirely unmatchable - grossly inconsistent with, testable, checkable fact.

A historically important, humanly important example, that wasted many hundreds millions of person years, and which caused untold suffering, was the "learning" of the medical profession before modern medical science. Rudyard Kipling's Our Fathers of Old tells some of that story, poetically but accurately -- it is a story of great carnage - of terrible human waste. http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?13@@.ee79f4e/241

Whole groups can be disastrously crazy. There is a great deal of reason to believe that exactly this has happened to the people in charge of our military policy, and especially our nuclear policy. Edward Teller's life, and the lies and evasions he got away with, offer many examples -- his advocacy of missile defense as a viable technical option among them.

Missile defense, as it was ordered by Reagan, and still today, is a technical fraud. Although in such a large effort there will be isolated interesting pieces of work (miraculously few for the money).

At the system level, missile defense has always been, and is now, "as devoid of merit as a herringfish is of fur."

The only explanation I can see, and one that seems consistent with a great deal, is that it is being sold so hard because it is a lie. A lie that people in power are willing to defend at all costs (including the cost of more fraud, and continued treason.)

Perhaps there is another explanation. It would be interesting to hear one set out, in cross-examinable detail, on core technical issues.

rshowalter 4/23/01 10:54am

possumdag - 09:18am Apr 25, 2001 EST (#2583 of 2586)
Possumdag@excite.com

At a cultural festival - WARANA (now defunct) in Brisbane, the Tiawanese had a wonderful kite flying display. Think of a kite, it soars in the wind, you look up, and marvel ... it rides the waves of aircurrent .. billows out with pride, and is artistically patterned with love.

Quite different from a stringed marionette - subject to the reality of gravity.

America's foremost marionette was interviewed regarding Tiawan and China and those ugly missiles. Whoever was pulling the strings had a judder problem re the right foot .. why was it shaking so? The pale and aged ... lips issued "We will do whatever it takes to protect Tiawan" .. I wondered 'is he saying ... if he decided it would take a missile, then a missile would be used -- what was the USA President actually saying? ... where is this threatening of the 5000year old nation of warriors leading him? ... hadn't he heard of 'thinking smart' 'negotiation' 'intercultural friendship' .... ?' Such a pity your encumbrant hadn't had Presidency as a life-long passion, then he might have travelled, prepared himself, learnt that humanity is the ONE race ... and there is ONLY one race.

I note that the Phillipines have a former president up on the charge of PLUNDERING their treasury. The law says if found guilty - death by injection.

I'm wondering here if there is a difference between a President having a 'conflict of interest' situation as per USA and a President having a 'plundering' charge in SE Asia.

I'm musing here ... will go no further.

possumdag - 09:27am Apr 25, 2001 EST (#2584 of 2586)
Possumdag@excite.com

Then again ... I don't see the difference between conflict of interest and plundering ... arn't they both a form of TREASON ?
[PDF] www.sagepub.co.uk/journals/details/issue/sample/a009391.pdf Copyright # SAGE Publications London ... School of Law, USA Key Words ... license to punish of®cial ... conviction for `treason, bribery ...

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