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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?

gisterme - 06:47pm May 16, 2001 EST (#3990 of 3996)

rshowalter wrote: "...Don't be too cynical about THE NEW YORK TIMES..."

Why not, Robert? How's that any different than you characterizing all Americans abroad as acting like nazis? :-)

The previous comment was WRT electronic media. To me that means television. There has always been much better objectivity in the printed press and on radio because there are many newspapers and many radio stations that are independent of the huge media companies.

rshowalter - 06:50pm May 16, 2001 EST (#3991 of 3996)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

didn't say, (hope I didn't say) that all americans look like Nazis.

DID say that sometimes, some Americans did look like Nazis, and that this was unfortunate -- and might well be remedied.

rshowalter - 06:51pm May 16, 2001 EST (#3992 of 3996)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

A proposed "technical fix" for some problems of concern to almarst , that should concern us all, that I think might be worth trying right now. 1996: rshowalter 4/5/01 9:58am .... 1997: rshowalter 4/5/01 9:59am

Storage is getting very, very cheap: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/05/technology/05STORR.html In the Storage Race, Will Consumers Win? By MICHEL MARRIOTT so human memory and crosschecking can now be much extended.

gisterme - 06:55pm May 16, 2001 EST (#3993 of 3996)

rshowalter wrote: "...Whatever you may think of the US, to think of it as a "colonial power" in the usual sense is wrong...."

Why, thank you very much Robert. That's one of the nicest things you've said so far.

rshowalter - 06:55pm May 16, 2001 EST (#3994 of 3996)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I'm an Eagle Scout kind of fella -- you'd be surprised.

rshowalter - 07:06pm May 16, 2001 EST (#3995 of 3996)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

A STRONG personal preference, and one I share with a lot of Republicans:
2654: rshowalter 4/27/01 11:44am

rshowalter - 07:39pm May 16, 2001 EST (#3996 of 3996)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

2655: rshowalter 4/27/01 2:38pm .... 2656: rshowalter 4/27/01 2:43pm
2657: rshowalter 4/27/01 2:45pm

.... and a beautiful story: HOW TO BE A POPULAR TEENAGER ..... by Deirdre Dolan .... New York Times Magazine .... April 8, 2001 http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/08/magazine/08POPULAR.html?pagewanted=all

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, I feel that it is sometimes deeply dishonest and corrupt, and it could easily destroy the world.

I don't have any doubts about the need for strength. And, on some occasions, brute force.

All the same, it seems to me that the values of our teenagers, on some crucial levels, are more sophisticated, and better, than escalating threat responses that our military shows too often. ( 2087: http://forums.nytimes.com/webin/WebX?14@174.4h2CaqZKopF^3934017@.f0ce57b/2251... )

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