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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 - 02:38pm Apr 27, 2001 EST (#2655 of 2658)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

If the steps toward honesty and reconciliation between Japan, China, and the Koreas discussed here could bear fruit -- what a tremendous step for world peace, and for Japanese prosperity, it would be.

Japan's New Premier Renews His Vow to Field a Full Army by HOWARD W. FRENCH http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/27/world/27CND-JAPAN.html

If Japan could do away with lies that have tied her down internally, and made her unpopular (and hence a poor salesman) all through Asia, many of the problems of the whole world would be more soluble.

And in the world as it is, this may require Japan to distance itself somewhat from the US, and especially the US military -- something that seems to be under discussion.

If Japan were more honest and worked to be more popular with her neighbors how much safer, more comfortable, and more efficient the world could be !

Some disciplined beauty could replace a lot of ugliness just here.

rshowalter - 02:43pm Apr 27, 2001 EST (#2656 of 2658)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

If ( Japan or China or Taiwan or South Korea or North Korea or Russia ) were more honest and worked to be more popular with her neighbors how much safer, more comfortable, and more efficient the world could be !

That's true in every case, and for every 2-way, 3-way, 4-way, 5-way and 6-way combination (with any and all orderings, and structures) you can choose for the complex practical and emotional interactions between Japan and China and Taiwan and South Korea and North Korea and Russia ... ! ! !

When in doubt, everything considered, it helps to consider ways of being honest, and being nice, every time. Sometimes, a big problem with that is the shear intellectual challenge of doing so.

Fighting, sometimes, is logically easier. But much more expensive, and less worthy of human beings.

rshowalter - 02:45pm Apr 27, 2001 EST (#2657 of 2658)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Here's a sophisticated story about what it takes to be popular that nations which want to sell their goods or cooperate productively or feel safe might read with profit.

The piece says a great deal about why America works so well, and why the threat patterns of the US military are so very foreign to the aspects of America that people admire.

The article includes is a beautiful little story about how threat behavior is treated, and what it can cost, that all ought to consider.

HOW TO BE A POPULAR TEENAGER ..... by Deirdre Dolan .... New York Times Magazine .... April 8, 2001

rshowalter - 02:53pm Apr 27, 2001 EST (#2658 of 2658)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

The United States should use skills it has in other areas, to get some beauty where US behavior is at its most irresponsible, dangerous, and ugliest.

We know, very well, how to be decent, how to be nice, how to be honest, how to show good judgement, and balance human interests with grace. Often we show that as a society.

But in military affairs, we behave very differently.

Our military posture is expensive, it is deeply dishonest and corrupt, and it could easily destroy the world.

The values of our teenagers, on some crucial levels, are more sophisticated, and better, than escalating threat responses. rshowalter 4/8/01 8:22am

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