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Old November 28th 07, 01:32 PM posted to sci.space.history,sci.space.policy,sci.space.station,soc.culture.china,soc.culture.taiwan
Jonathan
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 705
Default ..New Space-Race to the Moon..History is (Tragically) Repeating Itself


"Matt Wiser" wrote in message
...
"Jonathan" wrote:

(mindless drivel snipped)

Boy, your wacko-meter is pretty high, I'd say. Did you escape out of the

same lunatic
asylum that the Guthball fled? If so, their security has a lot to be

desired. Join the other
conspiro-wackos, 9-11 "truthers", cheerleaders for the enemy, and other

assorted crazies in
my killfile, if you don't mind. PLONK.



So you don't think going back to the moon is
about missile defense....or military objectives?
As that is my point. Being unable to distinguish
between form and content is the sign of a weak
or lazy mind.

You should try reading the news once in a while
so you don't continue embarrassing yourself.


''Of course we can sometime in the future decide that
some anti-missile defense system should be established
somewhere on the moon,'' Putin said. ``But before we
reach such arrangements, we will lose the opportunity
for fixing some particular arrangements between us.''


No headway in U.S.-Russia missile talks

Frosty relations between the United States and Russia
continued as a meeting aimed at resolving a missile
defense dispute made little progress.

Posted on Sat, Oct. 13, 2007
BY NANCY A. YOUSSEF
McClatchy News Service

MOSCOW -- A much anticipated meeting Friday between
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of Defense
Robert Gates and top Russian officials made no progress
toward resolving the disputes over missile defense and other
issues that have sunk relations between the two nations to
their lowest level since the end of the Cold War.

Instead, the meeting exposed how the high hopes that
Russia and America would cooperate on missile defenses,
international arms control treaties and counterterrorism
have given way to fear that their differences over those
issues and others, such as Iran, have recharged the
rivalry between the two countries.

The day began on a sour note. When asked by reporters
whether the talks could lead to a breakthrough, Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov replied: ''Breaks definitely,
[but] through or down, I don't know.'' Russian President
Vladimir Putin then kept Gates and Rice waiting for
40 minutes and mocked some of the U.S. proposals
on missile defense as the two looked on, at times
appearing to be taken aback.

''Of course we can sometime in the future decide that
some anti-missile defense system should be established
somewhere on the moon,'' Putin said. ``But before we
reach such arrangements, we will lose the opportunity
for fixing some particular arrangements between us.''

Gates and Rice tried to reassure the Russians that the
U.S. proposal to deploy ballistic missile defenses in the
Czech Republic and Poland is intended to protect
Europe from a possible Iranian threat, not to counter
Russia's nuclear missiles.

''It would have no impact on Russia's strategic deterrent,''
Gates said. In an effort to assuage Russian concerns,
he and Rice proposed that observers and a system
of ''transparency'' accompany the new missile defenses.

But the Russians' problem was geography, not transparency.
Lavrov called on the United States to freeze its deployment
plans, which he and Russian Defense Minister Anatoly
Serdyukov called ''anti-Russian.'' The Russians also
threatened to respond to any deployments, but didn't
suggest how they might do so.

The United States also proposed adjustments to the
Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, which limits key
categories of conventional weapons and forces. Lavrov
called the latest U.S. proposals nothing new, saying
that although they're a step in the right direction,
``this step is insufficient.''

U.S. officials traveling with Rice and Gates rejected
suggestions that the meeting was a failure, calling the
agreement to discuss these issues again and to consider
the U.S. proposals progress.

''I don't think we expected the Russians to agree with
these proposals today,'' said a senior administration
official, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity.

The United States also introduced specifics of a ''Joint
Regional Missile Defense Architecture,'' or missile
defense cooperation, with their Russian counterparts,
who agreed to consider the proposal. If embraced, the
plan could take relations between the two countries
''to quite a new level,'' the official said.

The Kremlin leader also said that the Cold War-INF
treaty, which limits Russian and U.S. short- and
medium-range missiles, was outdated because other
nations are acquiring those weapons. He said it should
be updated.

''If we are unable to make such a goal of making this
treaty universal, then it will be difficult for us to keep
within the framework of such a treaty, especially
when other countries do have such weapons systems,''
Putin said.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/story/270162.html