Thursday, May 15, 2003

 

I'm getting to like Economist.com. I haven't taken advantage of it yet but it's because of background information like this about George W. Bush that I find it a useful source of information.

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Wednesday, May 14, 2003

 

Another useful link, regarding missile defense; A Primer on Missile Defense (washingtonpost.com)

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On a related note to the last post, a link to the United Nation's Disarmament page

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Salon article by syndicated columnist Robert Scheer, "A nuclear road of no return" points to signs that Bush administration policies and actions may be taking us down the road to another nuclear arms race. This obviously doesn't bode well.

Scheer cites several fact as evidence: The fact that the WMD hunt by U.S. forces in Iraq have ceased without finding any evidence of the WMD programs and stores that were a key rationale for the war. The administration's investment into our own military arsenal as well as its dismissal of antiballistic missile treaties and promotion of missile shields. These moves are in contrast to what I'm currently reading from Henry Kissinger about the goals and means of American diplomacy. I worry because I can't imagine what good will come of such an aggressive stance. The argument has some merit when facing regimes like South Korea that equate armaments with power but it doesn't seem wise as a general diplomatic policy.

But perhaps that's the key to understanding where the administration is coming from. It doesn't believe in diplomacy because it doesn't see the rest of the world as equal. It has adopted the neo-conservative mindset that might makes right and thus the U.S. must maintain its preeminence in the only way it can, by having the biggest arsenal. All of this at the expense of diplomacy and domestic tranquility. I can't believe that their thinking is so one-dimensional. There has to be something more here that I'm missing.

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Monday, May 12, 2003

 

Article for the "things that make you go hmm..." department; "Frustrated, U.S. Arms Team to Leave Iraq" (washingtonpost.com). The group, the 75th Exploitation Task Force, will be turning over the search for WMD to a group called the Iraq Survey Group. The article focused on the frustration of the Task force precipitated by limited intelligence gathering and poor site security. It still remains to be seen what evidence of WMD will be turned up.

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