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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 - 07:22am Sep 20, 2001 EST (#9526 of 9534)
lunarchick@www.com

War Terror PTS: Post Traumatic Stress 200,000 cases anticipated for New York.

team has discovered the left frontal area of the brain no longer coordinates properly with three other brain areas. The result is a major disruption to working memory. No wonder sufferers have such trouble concentrating.

And there are other intriguing brain effects.

Prof Sandy MacFarlane: Particularly the language areas of the brain are not working in a normal way. We could almost characterise this as a speechless terror. One of the characteristics is that these are experiences outside the domain of normal language. One of the reasons war veterans often don’t speak – there isn’t a world of easily shared language that allows people to talk about these things. The interesting things in these studies show there is an underlying neurobiology to that.

Narration: So how do you predict which people will go on to develop these disturbing symptoms? In the last few years, Richard Bryant has identified the signs.

A/Prof Richard Bryant: I’m edgy, I’m jumpy, I can’t sit still. Restless, emotional numbing, a sense of reliving the experience – by that I don’t just mean a memory, I feel like going through it again. And an elevated heart rate in the week after the event tends to be associated with people who further down the track will go on to develop post-traumatic stress disorder.

Narration: Early prediction is important, because the longer treatment is left, the worse the prognosis.

A/Prof Richard Bryant: Essentially using cognitive behavioural therapy, provided in the first month, about 80% of people who would otherwise develop post traumatic stress disorder seem to recover.

Narration: Yet in the short term, many won’t seek help. The full extent of the problem will only emerge later, when some people realise they’re not recovering from their distress.

rshowalter - 08:37am Sep 20, 2001 EST (#9527 of 9534)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD2185 rshowalter 4/12/01 8:45am

Nuclear weapons are obsolete menaces, especially with the defective technical and human controls now in place, and they should be taken down, and effectively prohibited.

The United States should cease using them to threaten other nations in "bluffs" that remain, and have long been, both dishonorable and very damaging.

A combination of technical and diplomatic means, and other persuasive means, need to be employed, with discipline and a feel for proportion, to get answers of disciplined beauty here.

We ought to know a little better, now, what the stakes are.

MD2186 rshowalter 4/12/01 8:54am ... This spoof from the Onion is funny, and yet, at another level, it isn't so funny after all.

. Navy Admiral Considers Death of Son in the Acceptable Loss Range

MD2187 almarst-2001 4/12/01 10:07am ... MD2189 rshowalter 4/12/01 10:52am

if some things happened "real progress toward peace, which the United States now keeps from occurring, might happen directly, gracefully, and with justice and redemptive solutions nicely combined."

A "war" on "terrorism" is surely appropriate. To work, that "war" has to consider "terrorism" in all its forms.

The crime of September 11 is every bit as ugly and unjustified as it is. But there are other crimes, and threats of far larger crimes, that need to be considered, too.

rshowalter - 01:49pm Sep 20, 2001 EST (#9528 of 9534)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

A good summary of the Missile Defense thread argument to March 1 is in MD813-818 rshowalter 3/1/01 4:08pm

That summary is also set out, and summaries of this thread are continued to the present in http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@@.ee7a163/158

That thread, PSYCHWAR, CASABLANCA, AND TERROR contains a story that I think is important for understanding the Cold War, and for understanding military problems today. The thread begins at http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@@.ee7a163/0

The key story, of about seven pages, is set out from posting 13 http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@@.ee7a163/12 to posting 23 http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@@.ee7a163/22 with a key comment in posting 26. http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?14@@.ee7a163/25

rshowalter - 01:50pm Sep 20, 2001 EST (#9529 of 9534)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

HOW TO SEARCH THE "MISSILE DEFENSE" FORUM

MD9057 rshowalter 9/14/01 2:26pm ... MD9440 rshowalter 9/19/01 8:07am

armel7 - 02:29pm Sep 20, 2001 EST (#9530 of 9534)
Science/Health Forums Host

Hi, all. I'm sorry, but I've deleted a number of posts. Please keep this forum focused on Missile Defense not terrorism, the Taliban or the impending retalliation -- unless it deals specifically with the MD question.

You can go here

rebecca_nyt "Attacks on the U.S." 9/20/01 2:28pm

to discuss the other issues.

Your host,
Michael Scott Armel

(4 following messages)

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