Star Wars is dead, but Missile Defence isn't.

[Lilly]

ARE WE GOING INTO A RENEWAL OF THE ARMS RACE?

On Tuesday Jan.18,00 the U.S. government unsuccessfully tested an experimental anti-missile system. A mock warhead was launched to simulate a nuclear attack. A prototype missile interceptor was supposed to detect and destroy the mock warhead, but failed to hit its target.

But it is far from the end for missile defence......

The Whitehouse plans on spending $2.2 billion to the coming year's budget to pay for more testing. The Republican-dominated Congress is in favour of developing a missile defence system. Texas Governor George W. Bush and Senator John McCain of Arizona are also behind it.

A green light for missile defence would have profound implications for North American security.

For more than a generation, Western strategic docrine has rested on the principals of "Mutually Assured Destruction," or MAD. That principle helped prevent a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union.
To keep MAD in its place, the two super-powers agreed not to develop missile defences by signing an Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

If the USA succeeds in developing a working defence system, they would have the upper hand with 1st strike capability; MAD is thrown out of the equation.
Russia feels threatened and China is angry and that would leave them no other recourse but to go ahead with developing their own systems.

If the Americans develop this, Europe would feel isolated and be compelled to side with Russia, and then we would again have, pacts and blocks; - continental blocks.

I know we have heard some sabre rattling from Moscow by acting Prime Minister V. Putin about the use of nuclear missiles, but most people have missed the key word in his speech.
"IF we are attacked, we will use every means at our disposal to protect our Sovereignity, and that includes...nuclear missiles."

Despite the end of the Cold War, the American government says, that Russia still has thousands of nuclear warheads. Duhhhh!!!You think??????
Moscow would be tempted to improve and modernize its offensive arsenal to close the technological gap.

The Topol-M, can slip past the even best U.S. defence shield. (Don't you agree, MADRUSSIAN?)(by the way, where is the little bugger?)

~~~~~~Welcome to the New Arms Race!~~~~~~~~

All the billions could be put to better use.

My questions are:

Do we need this, and what would the implications be?

Is it because Pakistan and India each have unveiled new missiles, or the ultra-Communist regime in North Korea tested a missile that could possibly reach the West Coast of the USA?

Is it feasible that these countries have sophisticated technology to build a carrier like a Minuteman II, that would be able to deliver a warhead as far as North America?

Is President Clinton agreeing to spend money on research just to take the thunder out of his Republican opponents?


Does anyone know about THAAD,(Theatre High-Altitude Area Defence System, which the army is working on?

During WWII, Admiral Yammamotto posed this question, "Do we want to wake the Sleeping Giant?" He was referring to the United States.
Today, one can ask the same question about China....

This is a step back into the dark shadows of the mushroom clouds.....leaves me a little edgy....
No wonder 29 Palms is on alert. ;-)

Regards,
LillyNomad

[This message has been edited by Lilly (edited 20 January 2000).]

[gene_parrish]

At last; a new topic.
But what a big start. I will just comment on missile defense. I am for it BUT history shows that is isn't smart to break international treatys.
We will get the missle system because Clinton has never let a treaty or law or a moral code stop him from getting what he wants.
Do you get what you want? or do you obey the law? Hmmmm?
Gene

[Lilly]

Gene darling get your cute buns over to the ukranian board. I posted the same topic and received over 30 responses in a little over 24 hours. You missed out a great discussion; or perhaps not, if you are another persona on that board. ~smile~

LillyNomad

[gene_parrish]

Lilly,
How do I get to the Ukraine board? I did a search and found hundreds of sites for Urkaine; too many to check out for a bulletin board.
Gene

[Lilly]

Dear Gene,
Look up, way up, go back to the main russian bulletin board, then look down, way down click on HOME PAGE of russia.com, to Virtial Countries....and choose Ukraine.com

I pasted it below: It is all part of these boards.
If all else fails type in www.ukraine.com
and get a password.

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Nicaragua.com | PuertoRico.com | Russia.com | Scotland.com | SouthAfrica.com Sweden.com |
Switzerland.com | Turkey.com | Ukraine.com

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Regards, Lilly

p.s. you could have icq'd or emailed me. It is in my profile.

[This message has been edited by Lilly (edited 25 January 2000).]

[utopia]

the smart rock idea is completely rediculous. the whole logic being "lets lob a missile in the same vicinity of an incoming missile and hope for the best." we (the US) have only been successful once. . .which could easily be attributed to blind luck. and we still haven't even begun to think of how to counter devices which will, obviously, be used to fool the smart rock. these devices are elementary in comparison to gaining knowledge enough to build the actual missile. this logic that countries will be advanced enough to build IBMs but not to build the simple counters to the smart rock is, as stated before, rediculous.

[steven_pack]

The Missile-Defence question is interesting. Sure MAD has been effective war, but if I was a yank (I'm actually Australian), I'd be a bit worried about the fact that making a Nuke is no longer restricted to rich super powers. Also, I'm sure there are plenty of extremist groups out there who would be more than happy to assure their own destruction if it meant flattening Washington.

Both sides have their pros-and-cons... so I'll think I'll sit on the fence for a while before siding one way or the other