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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?

rshowalter - 01:35pm Sep 29, 2001 EST (#9908 of 9925)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I think American military people should have a much more comprehensive, flexible, imaginatively diverse, solid, ability to fight than they have now. More ability to do damage, including infliction of injury and death, on more people, in more nation states, with more focus, and in more ways, than today.

I think, whenever military people, in their professional capacity, consider anyone or anything, they ought to consider, professionally, all the ways they might inflict injury or death, at various levels of traceability, on these other people or things, or on people or things associated with them in ways that might be motivational.

Not that the military should kill wantonly -- or at all often. Or inflict injury often.

But they should know how to kill and inflict injury, when directed to do so, and they should be equipped to do it.

And the fundamental military maxim that everyone in any other nation state is a potential enemy should be remembered.

They should also, since it is their role to protect the United States, give professional thought to how Americans might be subjected to military action -- with the same flexibilty, from other nation states, or groups.

So that they could do a careful job of reducing the risk to Americans, in balanced ways.

For symettry, they ought to consider how they could help or please those they could also hurt or kill -- just as a thought exercise, and at lower priority, but with enough thought for tactical flexibility, and to provide opportunities for the kinds of efficient killing that require treachery.

These are just general principles, but some equipment and social adjustments, that would take money and training, would be involved.

One point that seems basic to me. Military people, from time to time, just so they know what they're about, should kill something. Perhaps, by tradition, they should slaughter and butcher their own meat. More in a while.

I understand that I'm being idealistic, and thinking of a far nicer world than the current one, where we have nuclear weapons, and threaten to use them. But I'm a warm, loving, idealistic type.

Give me a bit of time, about equipment and training.

rshowalter - 01:44pm Sep 29, 2001 EST (#9909 of 9925)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Gotta go to the grocery. We're out of meat.

rshowalter - 04:09pm Sep 29, 2001 EST (#9910 of 9925)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

gisterme said some things about my loyalty yesterday, and some other things about my competence. I promised to respond. I've given thought to some possible responses, but I'd like to beg her leave to defer them, for a while. No sense in getting into avoidable fights, when there may, after all, be some that cannot be avoided.

I'm thinking about a number of things, and among them the great importance of aesthetics, and aesthetic responses that are culture based, for sorting things out reasonably.

Dawn Riley has been barred from this board, at least was a while back. I thought that unfortunate. I think beauty is vital, and she specializing in looking for it. While we consider the need for strong, flexible militaries, with a high "tooth to tail" ratio, it seems to me that thinking about the beautiful things in the world gives perspective, and a sense of what is worth defending. Here are links from Dawn to museums -- resources of great beauty -- very much worth saving and respecting. MD7560 rshowalter 7/28/01 9:40pm

Looking at MD7562 rshowalter 7/29/01 4:48am . . . , it seemed to me that some of the things I said then were fair, but that, for all the tragedy, the world may have changed in hopeful ways since then.

Ways Mary Poppins might approve of, on balance, and be able to find uses for.

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