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From: riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Those crates
Message-ID: <201@ut-sally.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 9-Nov-84 19:54:28 EST
Article-I.D.: ut-sally.201
Posted: Fri Nov  9 19:54:28 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 11-Nov-84 19:56:11 EST
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Organization: U. of Tx. at Houston-in-the-Hills
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(Re: Election Result:More War in '84!)
>> The very day after the election the big news is a Soviet shipment of Mig's
>> to Nicaragua.  I think that is the worst possible thing the Soviets could do
>> at this point.  Peace groups planning civil disobedience against American
>> actions might consider protests against this action as well.

A couple of things to respond to here --

Why are people taking it for granted that there are really MiGs in those
crates?  To quote from a UPI article in this morning's paper: "U.S. officials
still did not have any firm evidence whether the Burkiana [the Bulgarian
freighter in question] carried MiG-21s, and a defense source said other
military equipment may have been packed into MiG-21 crates because of their
availability."  The "crateologists" (yes, that's the word they use) can't even
agree: some Pentagon sources have been talking about MiGs while others have
mentioned less sophisticated aircraft and I heard last night that one report
says the contents are not planes at all, but rather ground-to-air missiles!
The fact is that no one in this country knows what is in the crates, yet the
press and public opinion have already blown this up into "the MiG crisis."
It's all so appropriate: many people believe that Reagan is itching for an
excuse to invade Nicaragua, and somehow a possible boatload of MiGs has
acquired the resonance of other pretexts like the Maine, the Lusitania and the
Gulf of Tonkin.

Secondly, even supposing that the crates do in fact contain a shipment of
MiG-21 aircraft, how on earth is that a justification for the U.S. to use
force or threats of force against Nicaragua?   Nicaragua is a sovereign state
and has as much right as any other to arm itself as it chooses.  Furthermore,
the current Nicaraguan air force consists of a handful of planes, only a
fraction of the number belonging to El Salvador and virtually nothing next to
the U.S. airpower constantly flying in and out of Honduras during our
seemingly endless "manuevers" there.  A boatload of Soviet fighters would
hardly constitute a threat to U.S. security.  For the Nicaraguans, faced with
the ongoing attacks by the contras and the constant threat of an invasion on
the part of the U.S., an attempt to augment their miniscule air power could
hardly be considered an agressive move.

I, too, am concerned by the P.R. consequences of what may or may not be in
those crates, but I suspect that if the "MiG crisis" weren't happening, some
other equally ridiculous "crisis" would be invented in its place.

Meanwhile, the U.S. increases its pressure on the Nicaraguans by placing
warships within sight of the Nicaraguan coast off Corinto and by sending spy
planes (complete with sonic booms) flying over the country, thus prompting
widespread panic and forcing the Nicaraguans to divert efforts from the coffee
harvest to preparation for an invasion.  Whether or not the Reagan
administration plans to invade any time soon, it certainly is doing all it can
to make life miserable for the Nicaraguans in the meantime.

--- Prentiss Riddle ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.")
--- {ihnp4,harvard,seismo,gatech,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddle