[01/16/1999-12/21/1999]: 42-t-26444787-20080359F-001-002-2013

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ISSUES THAT DISTINGUISH
I was reading the other day about Warren Beatty's address concerning a
presidential bid. He has been lamenting the lack of debate on issues of
great moment to many of us - international conflict, environmental
destruction, poverty, homelessness, military posture - none of which appear
to be moving concerns to the majority of exuberant modern capitalists in
this country. I personally think Beatty's speech was precognitive of types
of issues the 2000 election will evolve to debate, since basic questions
facing humanity in the first ten years of the new millennium will, in fact;
yield answers of enormous relevance to the exuberant modern capitalist.
Military Conflictio~s
One of the first is the question of whether we will continue .to encourage
the militarization of nations, in principle by example and in p~ofit
through
industry.
"What kind of war will the U.S. fight in the future," asked Thomas Ricks
for
the Wall Street Journal on November 12, 1999. "Some defense experts argue
that the threat will most likely come in the form of an epic confrontation
with a powerful state-of-the-art military. Say, for instance, Iran in 2025
smites its neighbors with chemical weapons and seizes Saudi Arabia's oil
fields. Others predict ·there won't be any more big wars - just a plethora
of
enemy.'ankle-biters' menacing U.S. troops with nettlesome firefights, as
the
Americans feed starving refugees on one block while separating warring
factions on the next. II
Shall we invest our wealth in. the military machine's global infrastructure,
weapons systems, and youthful vigor, capitalizing it with ideology and
equipment prepared to fight World War III? Or, shall we organize a network
of relatively nimble and mobile peace-keeping functions, capable of
insertion into regional crises? Shall we organize a Space Force?
These are not abstract questions. They are questions facing us here and
now,
with consequences that will reverberate for generations. They are viewed as
central questions by the Pentagon, for our answers determine how our
military intends to invest the nearly $300 billion dollars received from us
annually, give or take a new lethal weapon or two.
But a growing number among military leaders privately will tell you, and a
few brave politicians openly argue, that these are entirely the wrong
questions. They believe.that the right questions are. more along the lines
of.
these: As science increasingly yields the ability for· any determined
terrorist to take out a city electronically, biologically, chemically, or