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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!hplabs!hao!seismo!mcvax!enea!erix!mike
From: mike@erix.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.followup,net.politics
Subject: Re: Star Wars Defense Plan
Message-ID: <570@erix.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 5-Sep-84 08:35:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: erix.570
Posted: Wed Sep  5 08:35:53 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 16-Sep-84 07:37:32 EDT
Organization: L M Ericsson, Stockholm, Sweden
Lines: 39

Some thought on Jeff Shore's comments

> A comment that "this whole discussion is depressing" was published on
> this net: true enough. So are discussions about famine, rape, child 
> abuse, ...., and all the other terrible things in this world. 

Yes indeed, but the nuclear threat is by far the most urgent. Famine etc
are problems which must be solved, but won't kill off most of mankind if
some senile President/Chairman of the party/General makes a mistake.

> An informed and aware public does make a difference, and these
> discussions contribute in whatever small way to that end. 

How informed are we? The people in the eastern block are informed, but
certainly not objectively. What does the average man in the street in the West
know about overhanging nuclear holocaust? In Europe people seem more concerned
with taxes, unemployment etc etc to even bother to think about it.

> But getting our government to move one step in the direction
> of compromise might get *them* to do the same. 

Nothing will happen until we can make the nuclear threat a political issue.
I think this is begining to happen in (Western) Europe. I don't know about
the USA. They don't have political issues in the Soviet dictatorship! However
they do have severe problems - like feeding their people. I'm sure that they
would welcome being able to divert some of their nuclear expenditure into
other more important issues.

Nuclear weapons do not constitute a defence. Remember that even full scale
conventional war (WW1 and WW2) killed and maimed far fewer people than would
be killed in a nuclear conflict between east and west. And both sides had
the bomb when the USSR walked into Afganistan and when the USA was in Vietnam 
and it didn't seem to influence the situation.

I hope this discussion on the net will continue, but let's concentrate on the
vital central issue of how to defuse the present situation and not on issues
such as the efectiveness of the proposed Star War defence system.

--Mike Williams (mike@erix.UUCP or ..mcvax!enea!erix!vax