Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: Notesfiles $Revision: 1.6.2.17 $; site ea.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!ea!mwm From: mwm@ea.UUCP Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: Those crates Message-ID: <22400040@ea.UUCP> Date: Tue, 27-Nov-84 00:13:00 EST Article-I.D.: ea.22400040 Posted: Tue Nov 27 00:13:00 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 25-Nov-84 03:31:59 EST References: <201@ut-sally.UUCP> Lines: 58 Nf-ID: #R:ut-sally:-20100:ea:22400040:000:2931 Nf-From: ea!mwm Nov 19 23:13:00 1984 /***** ea:net.politics / ut-sally!riddle / 9:01 pm Nov 17, 1984 */ > Why are people taking it for granted that there are really MiGs in those > crates? I'm not. I hope there aren't, for Nicaraguas sake. > ... 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! There are far better things - for Nicaragua - than MIG 21s that could have been in those crates. More helicopters would be nice. SAMs would be even better. Almost any kind of aircraft would be worthless if there were an American invasion, and serve only to provide an excuse for said invasion before it happens. Aircraft just don't work well as defensive weapons in the face of dominance of the air by the other side. America would undoubtedly have that. (MIG 21s. *chortle* It'd be a turkey shoot.) > 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. Don't be silly. America won't grant its citizens such freedoms, why should they grant it to people who are *anywhere* in its sphere of influence? > 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. No, and they wouldn't present any help in the face of a US invasion. The only "rational" use for such planes would be in a war with another power in the region. How many of them are arming for invasion *without US help*? None? Then the planes must be for a war of aggression. > 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. Why bother preparing? If they are invaded, any conventional forces they muster will be negligible (the gorilla forces, on the other hand, ...). Actively preparing for a war only provides an excuse. Actively ignoring what the US is doing would be a demonstration of truly peaceful intentions. Might not do any good, but it might work. > 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. Sounds like business as usual.