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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 - 09:06pm Jul 23, 2001 EST (#7347 of 7356)
lunarchick@www.com

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands- one nation indivisible-with liberty and justice for all."

Looking at Nationalism. Statements such as the above may have been pluralistic in nature when first conceived, designed as well meant propaganda to develop a cohesive nationhood.

Just wondering if C21 demands something more of citizens everywhere to make them citizens of the ONE world ... the above might then read via the changing of just two words and a paradigm leap ...

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the World for which it stands- one World indivisible-with liberty and justice for all."

What do you guys think?

rshowalter - 09:28pm Jul 23, 2001 EST (#7348 of 7356)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I'm glad to be a member of my own tribe -- but have to have some allegance to the world, as well.

And an aversion to killing or hurting other people, even if they are "different."

Which means that nuclear weapons are ugly to me.

We should get rid of them.

Except for americans, nobody likes them much.

lunarchick - 09:32pm Jul 23, 2001 EST (#7349 of 7356)
lunarchick@www.com

But Condoleezza Rice, Mr. Bush's national security adviser, made clear today that those discussions will not be formal negotiations over detailed arms control limits. Rather, she said, they will be more like consultations among allies in which each side simply tells the other what programs they have in mind.

"It is our view that these are more like defense planning talks, that you look at what is required for each side to insure itself," Ms. Rice said.

rshowalter - 09:34pm Jul 23, 2001 EST (#7350 of 7356)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Some Americans have gotten so familiar with nukes that they seem comfortable with nuclear weapons. They take mass murder in stride.

Among Neighbors of MX Missiles, Little Neutrality By MICHAEL JANOFSKY http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/20/politics/20WYOM.html

One may not ask for a change of heart from such people. But other nation states may need to ask -- how can such people be deterred? The answer is that there must be ways to hold them personally responsible for their actions. If they kill people they don't know without a qualm -- maybe people they do know should be at risk.

In the world that exists now, and that is coming into being, more focused kinds of deterrance may be becoming possible.

lunarchick - 09:40pm Jul 23, 2001 EST (#7351 of 7356)
lunarchick@www.com

Seems as if 'Disney' or 'Mattel' will cash in there with the 'Nuke' range of everything .. as in: Barbie's Nuke Button, Disney Nuke Village and Theme Park, along with Nuke comforter-teething rings. Familiarity breeds comtempt!

lunarchick - 09:56pm Jul 23, 2001 EST (#7352 of 7356)
lunarchick@www.com

Alex: reading What Makes Us Think? A Neuroscientist and a Philosopher Argue about Ethics, Human Nature, and the Brain by Jean-Pierre Changeux, et al

I noted a line relating to the confusion of religion and nationalism ... and thought comments above re Chechnia. n.b. RS you'd like this book :}

rshowalter - 10:20pm Jul 23, 2001 EST (#7353 of 7356)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I wonder if people ready to push buttons should be asked to count (nice clean marks on a piece of paper) the number of human beings their actions would kill -- between drinks of water.

Just a blip on a piece of paper, for each rotting unburied corpse they're going to make -- just takes a fraction of a second -- but how long it would take them.

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