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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?

almarst-2001 - 11:17pm Jul 2, 2001 EST (#6453 of 6462)

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was summoned last month to appear at the French Palace of Justice to answer questions about murders and disappearances in Chile in the 1970s. While the story was carried by major European news outlets, it has received relatively little coverage in U.S. media. - http://www.fair.org/activism/kissinger-crimes.html

almarst-2001 - 11:35pm Jul 2, 2001 EST (#6454 of 6462)

The Milosevic indictment - http://www.guardian.co.uk/yugo/article/0,2763,514441,00.html

It is clear the Racak was the most instrumental for the NATO.

almarst-2001 - 11:45pm Jul 2, 2001 EST (#6455 of 6462)

As Slobodan Milosevic enters the darkest hour of his political career, predictably, the political shockwaves reach Belgrade, Prime Minister Zizic confirming the illegality of the extradition, and Russia forces the UNO to drop a text welcoming Belgrade’s decision to extradite the former president. More detail... - http://english.pravda.ru/main/2001/06/30/9061.html

rshowalter - 06:22am Jul 3, 2001 EST (#6456 of 6462)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

The issue of truth, and press veracity, has been much discussed on this thread, and remains a CORE question, central to world justice, prosperity, peace, and simple survival.

We have such a mess that, unless we do better than we've been doing, the world could end.

We also live in a real world -- with big imperfections on all sides (the notion of Milosevik and the Serbs he led as "heros" does not appeal to me) where people can only move from where they are , a step at a time.

rshowalter - 06:23am Jul 3, 2001 EST (#6457 of 6462)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Not so long ago, President Bush made a speech where he emphasized the need for people to pay more attention to "the golden rule."

We're seeing, and have long seen, massive failures of the golden rule -- patterns that are almost as if there is a "sign error" -- with maximization not of comfort and justice -- but instead, maximization of discomfort, and injustice.

It is a massive problem. It has to be handled a step at a time.

rshowalter - 06:28am Jul 3, 2001 EST (#6458 of 6462)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

To take myself as an example -- you can make a compelling case (and I make it to myself, and it bothers me) that I don't do enough of my duty -- that I shy away from taking risks I should take, just out of a desire for self preservation -- that, even if I do not lie, I sometimes shy away form the whole truth. That I'm less effective than I could be because I'm less couragous than I should be.

Others, including some with media responsibilites, might argue the same for themselves.

Even so, there are other ways of looking at it. Perhaps things have to be taken a step at a time -- and contact with social orders, and with other minds, has to be maintained. Perhaps, sometimes, there are good reasons not to take risks -- perhaps there can be more effective, more graceful, more acceptable ways.

On this thread, if you look at what is becoming "common ground" and "non-contested ground" - limited but real progress is being made. Some progress, also limited but also real, is happening on other aspects of these problems, from other sources.

rshowalter - 06:29am Jul 3, 2001 EST (#6459 of 6462)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

almarst , I understand very many of your concerns, and we share much at the level of sympathy -- but it is necessary that you and yours control your hatred and anger -- as you often do - so that, step by step, we can move to more stable, just, safe circumstances.

I think we CAN move to better arrangements, and think that useful suggestions about them have been made on this thread. In a world with wars and rumors of wars, information flows are getting more powerful, more redundant, more cross-checkable. We can make some headway.

Please remember this. Whatever the differences in senses that are real, gisterme and her colleagues want peace. And gisterme and her colleagues support, revere, moral and asthetic values that you share as well.

I've said some "impolitic" things on this thread, including some recently. I'll be repeating some today. The current arguments that the Bush administration is making for a missile shield are deeply, deeply flawed. That needs to be established, in deeply crosscheckable ways.

But the people involved ought not to be dehumanized, if they are willing, themselves, to find ways to act responsibly and decently. For a lot of reasons.

One big reason is this. These people are valuable -- and can do valuable things in the future, for themselves, for their country, and for the whole world -- if they can just face up to some mistakes, and lies, and reframe their work, and their organizations, in more constructive ways.

They may choose to change. Partly because, if they do not, they could lose some fights. But also partly because, in very many ways, these are people with good things about them.

lunarchick - 06:29am Jul 3, 2001 EST (#6460 of 6462)
lunarchick@www.com

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