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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 - 06:35am Jul 2, 2001 EST (#6391 of 6401)
lunarchick@www.com

USA military Spending Editorial

rshowalter - 06:53am Jul 2, 2001 EST (#6392 of 6401)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

That NYT editorial takes a conservative position, in many senses of the word.

rshowalter - 06:55am Jul 2, 2001 EST (#6393 of 6401)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

almarst's important reference and comments in
MD6386-6387 almarst-2001 7/1/01 11:01pm .... deserve attention, and they are connected to his very vital concerns of
MD6388 almarst-2001 7/1/01 11:31pm .... where he refers especially to "sensorial infrastructure."

Almarst's point can't be a denial of many crimes of Milosevik -- he's referenced those crimes many times himself. He must be making an objection against gross disparity of standards - - and real and important injustice coming from that disparity. He makes, I think, a profound point --- which may motivate Ramsey Clark's letter http://www.iacenter.org/yugo_letter063001.htm

Milosevik can be a war criminal - and I believe is, and it can also be true that the disparity of proceedings, and denial of hearings on other issues, is gross injustice.

Concerns about missile defense are coupled, and cannot be uncoupled, from concerns about how the Cold War was fought -- the ruthlessness with which it was fought, and how it is to be ended. If the Cold War goes on, and reasons to continue its fears go on, nuclear terror will, too.

It is worthwhile to look at ALL the major section titles in "Electronic Briefing Books" http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB --- there is a wealth of information pertaining to this thread.

Again and again on this thread we've discussed the vital issue of national "sensorial infrastructures" -- the national presses, as they function in fact.

In this regard, I believe that the following piece from THE NATION is worth setting out here. Please note sections emphasized, and bolded, that refer specifically to the US press, including THE NEW YORK TIMES.

rshowalter - 06:57am Jul 2, 2001 EST (#6394 of 6401)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

" Judge Roger Le Loire has had documents to this effect on his desk for some time and is investigating the fate of five missing French citizens in Chile during the relevant period. He has already issued an arrest warrant for General Pinochet. But he understands that the inquiry can go no further until US government figures agree to answer questions. In refusing to do this, Kissinger received the shameful support of the US Embassy in Paris and the State Department, which coldly advised the French to go through bureaucratic channels in seeking information. Judge Le Loire replied that he had already written to Washington in 1999, during the Clinton years, but had received no response.

" On the Friday immediately preceding Memorial Day, another magistrate in a democratic country made an identical request. In order to discover what happened to so many people during the years of Condor terror, said Argentine Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral, it would be necessary to secure a deposition from Kissinger. And on June 4 the Chilean judge Juan Guzmán Tapia asked US authorities to question Kissinger about the disappearance of the American citizen Charles Horman, murdered by Pinochet's agents in 1973 and subject of the Costa-Gavras movie Missing (as well as an occasional Nation correspondent). So that, in effect, we have a situation in which the Bush regime is sheltering a man who is wanted for questioning on two continents.

"Partly because I have written a short book pointing this out, I have recently been interviewed by French, British and Spanish radio and TV. Indeed, if it wasn't for that, I might not have learned of Kissinger's local and international difficulties for some days. The Financial Times carried a solid story on the Paris episode, with some background, the day after Le Monde. But in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post--not a line. And where were Messrs. Koppel and Lehrer? They usually find the views of "Henry" to be worthy of respectful attention. I admit my own interest, but I still feel able to ask: By whose definition is Kissinger's moment at the Ritz not news?

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