Word: counters
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...seems my comments in The Crimson (February 25) on the cosmopolitan imperative as a viable lifestyle at elite colleges did precisely what I had hoped they would do--provoke counter reflections by the ethnocentric spokespersons among Black students like Anthony Ball, Timothy Wilkins, Alan Shaw, and Christopher Farley. But these counter reflections radiated more heat than enlightenment, and while I'm not against some heat in such discussions it should be used to sharpen and advance enlightenment--not obscure and hinder it. I have several comments to offer by way of rebuttal...
Advocates conjure up visions of death rays flashing across thousands of miles of space to zap Soviet missiles as they rise. Critics counter with derisive pictures of the most supersophisticated Star Wars weaponry foiled by something as simple as grains of beach sand scattered in orbit. Back and forth go the millions of words of argument that have been resounding since Ronald Reagan unveiled his Star Wars plan in 1983. But the essential question raised by all the debate can be put into just three words: Can it work...
...capable at orbital speeds of piercing steel, or even beach sand, which could pit and disable laser mirrors. American satellites might be defended against such attacks. But once that kind of cycle begins, says William Shuler, coordinator of S.D.I. research at Livermore, "we are going to be in the counter-countermea sure game forever...
...third conceivable outcome: the U.S. might conclude that it could, at enormous expense, build an imperfect but effective Star Wars system that the Soviets could counter only by extraordinary, costly and dangerous countermeasures. That would probably bring both nations, and the world, to a truly fateful decision: an arms race surpassing anything thus far imagined, or an arms-control deal reducing all categories of weapons. There would be precious little in between...
Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger has argued that the Pentagon needs all its funds to counter heavy Soviet spending on weapons. But Schultze pointed out that in the past two years the Central Intelligence Agency has revised its estimates on the growth of Soviet military expenditures sharply downward. "To some extent," said Schultze, "the U.S. defense buildup has been based on a myth that we were falling behind the Soviets in most areas." He also complained that the Pentagon is building too many duplicative weapons designed to carry out the same mission. The Air Force, for example, has five major development...