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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 - 11:00am Jul 25, 2001 EST (#7429 of 7448)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

The administration is saying some wishful, inconsistent, crazy things, about a technical program that does not work, and shows no possibility of doing so. .... MD7425 lunarchick 7/25/01 10:34am

lunarchick 7/25/01 8:58am Rice has a problem, and she's spent her whole professional life finding "good reasons" to threaten the Russians with nuclear weapons, and to resist arms control.

Now, she's looking for reframings -- and the Russians are too. Maybe they'll get somewhere. In the real, complex situation, they have room to maneauver, if they are prepared to deal with the complex facts as they are, and not insist on old, wrong, oversimplified, lethal models.

Another word for "reframing" is "secular redemption." The situation between the US and Russia is a mess, and the perils of nuclear destruction are terribly serious, but the situation is not beyond redemption. But some ideas are going to have to be changed.

That's been talked about on this thread a good deal.

Problems in China are analogous, and related to these issues, which involve balances. China knows better than to do what she's doing on human rights -- and sometimes that is clear.

. Daring to Shoulder Historical Responsibility: Way to Become Big Political Power" ... http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200104/18/eng20010418_67992.html

. WHEN LIES KILL: In China, the Right to Truth Meets Life and Death by ERIK ECKHOLM http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/17/weekinreview/17ECKH.html

Chinese problems are in the news today, and the subject of a TIMES editorial.

Chinese Injustice http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/25/opinion/25WED2.html

Beijing Sentences 2 Chinese U.S. Residents to Prison By CRAIG S. SMITH http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/25/international/25CHIN.html

On human rights, and on the suppression of ideas, directly and indirectly, China knows better than it does, and Russians and Americans should know better, too. . . . . MD6759 rshowalter 7/8/01 7:43am

lunarchick - 11:03am Jul 25, 2001 EST (#7430 of 7448)
lunarchick@www.com

Whale: story ... ... Japan Monet and international cooperation.

rshowalter - 11:04am Jul 25, 2001 EST (#7431 of 7448)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Here are some links on issues of reframing that are needed in missile defense, and the related questions of military balances:

MD6882-3 rshowalter 7/10/01 6:33pm . . . MD6511-6513 rshowalter 7/3/01 5:43pm
MD6487 rshowalter 7/3/01 4:28pm . . . MD6367 rshowalter 6/30/01 10:06pm

We need redemptive and detonative solutions, senses set out in two expository poems:
Secular Redemption ... http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?13@@.ee79f4e/619 and
Chain Breakers ... http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@@.ee79f4e/618

Such reframings and adjustments take a while, because there are so many chain breakers. Sometimes accomodations have to be made where there is awkwardness and some wrong on all sides.
MD6232 rshowalter 6/28/01 4:32pm ... MD6233 rshowalter 6/28/01 4:32pm
MD6234 rshowalter 6/28/01 4:35pm ... MD6235 rshowalter 6/28/01 4:36pm
MD6236 rshowalter 6/28/01 4:46pm ...

Maybe a suggestion by gisterme might make some sense now. gisterme 6/28/01 4:46pm

The issue I'd be most concerned with, personally, if finding ways to get things checked.

There are different points of view , at the level of paradigm conflicts , around missile defense. And they get in the way of hope, and safety, and progress. Some of them aren't simple, and they aren't entirely logical.

It seems to me that some of them connect to an eloquent and profound OpEd piece by

Senator Zell Miller, of Georgia . . . The Democratic Party's Southern Problem http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/04/opinion/04MILL.html

There are ideas and feelings in conflict, for a lot of reasons. MD4493-5 rshowalter 6/4/01 3:02pm

MD7240 rshowalter 7/19/01 3:22pm

The administration is doing and saying some crazy, inconsistent things. In times of paradigm crisis, that sort of thing happens, and can be a healthy sign. . . . MD6012-3 rshowalter 6/25/01 4:04pm

In times where basic ideas have to be rethought - a crucial stage occurs when a group of people organize who do not believe the old view.

That is happening. MD7378 rshowalter 7/24/01 10:57am Ministers and officials from countries all over the world are now prepared to laugh at the United States, and boo US representatives, in public conferences.

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