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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?

lunarchick - 06:22am May 1, 2001 EST (#2864 of 2866)
lunarchick@www.com

'potent shield ' Sounds like a contraceptive! The essence being, prevent the birth of the missile, stop the proliferation, keep the numbers down.

The Chinese have no interest in 'attacking' anyone (other than reclaiming Taiwan into their fold). Their main route out of mass poverty has been the commercial route, production and sale of goods into foreign markets.

Why would they want to nuke the USA and kill their best market .. along with all their relatives who live in the USA?

rshowalter - 07:09am May 1, 2001 EST (#2865 of 2866)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

People have to be, in a profound sense, blind, to tolerate the mass murder that nuclear weapons produce, ever.

In the US, a country so admirable and kind in many other ways, this blindness -- total blindness, has become institutionalized.

I've been working very hard -- this is objective -- you can measure this -- to adress this problem, both for moral reasons and because, on the basis of knowledge that I have, and interpretations that I have made myself, that seem right to me, I think there is a substantial chance of the world ending because of bad nuclear controls. Dawn Riley has made much of the work possible with her guidance and grace, and she has worked very hard, and more gracefully and beautifully than I could do, beside me.

I can't prove I'm right -- at least without dialog from the other side. But it is clear how strongly I believe this -- and how strong Dawn Riley's concern is, as well.

rshowalter - 07:11am May 1, 2001 EST (#2866 of 2866)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I've worked hard - my social and economic survival have depended on - work in mathematics and neurosciece. It has come very far -- I'd be proud to have some read -- rshowalter "How the Brain Works" 1/21/01 5:10pm to get a sense of my hopes for the work. At that time, and before, and since, some very able people at the University of Wisconsin have made accomodations that indicate, at the least, a willingness to consider that I could be right. Personally, that would be survival and salvation for me.

Since January 21, this forum has 2290 postings. Dawn and I have done most of them. They are too many to read, though I believe that if you sampled them, you'd find them of high quality.

I could be wrong. People are. People are wrong about facts, about ideas, about relationships. We all have to check.

But it is clear an objective how much I care, how desperately I'm concerned about nuclear peril. And how much Dawn Riley has come to care.

For that, look at the mass of work.