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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 - 02:45pm May 10, 2001 EST (#3658 of 3659)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I feel progress is being made, and that we all have to take our time, until things feel right, not only for us ourselves, but for those in our "field of responsibility."

I'd like to cite five "Rules of Power" of Adolph Berle , a man with plenty of experience in real politics, including the international kind. rshowalter 3/12/01 10:02am ... (948)

I feel that the rules of power are things everybody needs to remember, at least implicitly, when they judge what workable leadership has to be, for real, functioning human groups.

People have to get comfortable with new ideas, a step of the time, from where they are, as they are.

World military balances exist, and change in them must come, without violating these basic rules of power, because effective human action requires them.

Ideas, ideology, and questions of fact all count here.

We're making progress. People have very different world views, and very different emotional takes on things, and we're moving along.

rshowalter - 03:22pm May 10, 2001 EST (#3659 of 3659)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

The Honorable Curt Weldon:

Dear Congressman Weldon,

My name is Robert Showalter, I don't live in your district, but I was very interested when I watched your news conference, Leading Scientists Push Missile Defense on CSpan. http://www.house.gov/curtweldon/missiledefense.html

I'm a frequent poster on the MISSILE DEFENSE thread, in the New York Times on the Web Forums: Today, I've posted the following referring to you and the news conference. I've been respectful, and in fact said (3650) that I might owe you and some missile defense people some limited apologies, both technical and personal. I hope you find the postings respectful. I intended them to be.

3642: rshowalter 5/10/01 7:24am ..... 3647: rshowalter 5/10/01 7:59am
3650: rshowalter 5/10/01 10:55am ..... 3651: rshowalter 5/10/01 11:58am
3652: rshowalter 5/10/01 12:06pm ..... 3653: rshowalter 5/10/01 12:07pm
3654: rshowalter 5/10/01 12:19pm

I'll be posting a copy of this letter on the site, as well.

I think we have a lot of common ground, and care about many of the same things. I'm glad you support the Boy Scouts. I'm proud to be an Eagle Scout. I still try to keep the ideals I learned in the Scouts in mind.

The MISSILE DEFENSE thread would total about nine 1 1/2' looseleaf notebooks by now. I summarized it, in a way you might find interesting, and could read quickly, in rshowalter 5/8/01 6:51pm and rshowalter 5/8/01 6:53pm

Perhaps, in this thread, we're drawing wrong conclusions. But we are trying to arrive at a fair truth. And I think I can speak for other posters when I say that we welcome comment by members of the SAFE foundation, or other associates of yours.

Congressman Weldon, we disagree about some things about missile defense, but not its importance. And I think we agree about the size of the positive role that missile defense programs may have in the world -- because they have many people thinking about national security more carefully than before. I believe that, with hard thinking, and hard work, we can do a realistic, safe, careful job of making the world safer.

I happen to be an advocate of nuclear disarmament, if it can be safely done, and made a proposal for that in #266-269 of the thread .. rshowalt 9/25/00 7:32am but different posters have different views - including many who advocate MAD, as you yourself have done.

Some points I feel personally about, that are linked to movies you may know, are set out in 3383-3395 rshowalter 5/6/01 8:36pm ... rshowalter 5/6/01 8:37pm ... rshowalter 5/6/01 8:41pm

I'll be calling your office soon.

With respect and admiration,

Bob Showalter

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