Re: from SLATE

[Matthijs Krul <mccaine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> While at the G-8 conference, > Bush also used the opportunity to say
> that Putin "shouldn't fear a missile defense system" and, once again,
> urged him to cooperate with the United States.<
>
> he might be right -- but what if it isn't really a missile defense
> system? after all, it doesn't work: you can't hit a bullet with a
> bullet in mid-air. Maybe it can be switched easily into a medium-range
> surface-to-surface missile system, so that the US wouldn't have to
> nuke Russia to punish it.
>
>>Meanwhile, on the same day that Bush spoke about the importance of
> democratic institutions, the [Washington POST] goes inside with news
> that the Pakistani government arrested hundreds of opposition party
> workers yesterday morning and continued to place restrictions on the
> country's independent television stations. <
>
> this is an ally of the US! and not one of those "revolutionary
> socialist" regimes that David S. sneers at.
>
> BTW, it's not an illusion that revolutionary socialist regimes suffer
> from sabotage. The US does it, as against Cuba. Our Fearless Leaders
> also engage in targeted assassinations, as they tried to do against
> Castro. And they overthrow democratically-elected governments, as in
> Chile in 1973. They tried it again against (the
> democratically-elected) Chavez in Venezuela more recently...
>
> --
> Jim Devine /  "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your
> own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
>
>

Who says that doesn't work? Missiles that can shoot down missiles exist
and have been tested many times. The main issue is that the currently
existing systems cannot shoot down a lot of missiles at once, but the
principle is not unheard of at all. Example:
http://www.raytheon.com/products/patriot/

Of course, it's rather silly to build a system to shoot down missiles in
Eastern Europe and then tell Russia that it actually isn't any good at
shooting down missiles; nobody can blame Putin for not buying that one.

Matthijs Krul