At 12:00 15-8-01 -0400, Gautam Mukunda wrote:
>I knew who Caleb Rossiter was without the links, but I appreciate
>them, as I believe they only strengthen my case that he is far from a
>definitive source on the topic. On looking at his cv, a bunch of things
>leaped out at me immediately. First and most prominent, he is clearly an
>anti-mine activist. He has devoted large portions of his career to ridding
>the world of APMs. However laudable that goal is, it obviously calls his
>credibility as an unbiased source into question.
IOW: he's an anti-mine activist, and therefore his credibility is
questionable (after all, he disagrees with you, so his statements could not
possibly be based on facts, right?). If someone publishes a pro-landmine
article, would you consider that source unbiased and credible?
I doubt there are any unbiased sources in this case. Can you cite a few
unbiased sources? (And no, the Pentagon is NOT an unbiased source -- in
case you wanted to cite that one.)
BTW, I'm still waiting for you to cite a few sources that support the
pro-landmine views of the US.
>I'm saying that this is a situation in which subjective judgments
>are called for - are APMs necessary for the succesful allied defense of
>South Korea against North Korea - and an activist is obviously likely to
>make those judgments in a way that more neutral observers might not.
And who would those "neutral observers" be?
>Rossiter has no military experience, nor is any of his academic
>experience in security studies - which leads one to wonder how he is
>capable of analying the tactics and strategy of the United States military
>in South Korea, for example, or at least to question the validity of such
>analyses when they are contradicted by the declared beliefs of the
>Pentagon.
You know, people (including mr. Rossiter) are quite capable of acquiring
knowledge *without* getting a degree in the subject. For example, I know my
way around computers and computer networks (that's what my boss pays me
for!), but I don't have a Masters Degree in Computer Science. Does my not
having a CS degree make me incapable of, say, analyzing and solving network
problems?
Jeroen
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