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From: jca@abnji.UUCP (james armstrong)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: World War III
Message-ID: <233@abnji.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 30-Jan-85 07:51:15 EST
Article-I.D.: abnji.233
Posted: Wed Jan 30 07:51:15 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 31-Jan-85 01:10:45 EST
References: <3329@alice.UUCP>
Organization: ATTIS - Somerset, NJ
Lines: 85

>[Hello there]

Hello.

>Sorry if this has been posted before and/or it doesn't belong here, but this
>seemed like the best spot to put it, looking at the other topics discussed.
>
>I was wondering what other people thing about WAR.
>
>What would you do if WORLD WAR III broke out?

I would die, probably quite quickly, along with the rest of New Jersey, my
friends in San Diego, London, Stoke on Trent, St. Andrews, Cambridge, Boston,
et cetera.  (All targets, or within 5 miles of a target)

>What do you think about nuclear war, germ warfare, hand to hand, etc...??

War is proof that man is not the most intelligent species on this planet.
Perhaps the Brontosaurus was :-)

>Why do you think the US and Russia have nukes? What would make them both
>launch them??

The US has nuclear weapons because they didn't know what they were getting in
1945.  Since then, it has been fear of the USSR that has caused them to keep
them.  (A bit pedantic, now) Russia does not have nuclear weapons any more than
New York State has them.  Russia, better known in the USSR as the Russian
Soviet Federal Socialist Republic (RSFSR) is the largest state and and ethnic
group in the USSR.  The USSR has nuclear weapons because everybody else who has
them professes to point them at the USSR.

These nuclear weapons will be launched either (1) by mistake or (2) when a
world leader feels that the destruction caused to his own country is worth
the destruction he (or she- right Maggie?) causes to the other country.

The US will launch their weapons if they are losing a land war in Europe.
The USSR will launch their weapons if the US deploys an effective "Star Wars"
defense system.
If one side uses nuclear weapons, all will.

Translated: Nuclear weapons will be used when national integrity is threatened.

> My thoughts:
>
>First Question:
>
>I think if WORLD WAR III broke out there wouldn't be any one left. The sad
>thing is that we have to have war in the first place. I really hate the person
>who thought of war to solve problems, It just makes more.

Over what timespan?  When the war end, after say 6 hours, there will be 
survivors.  People would probably live for years afterwards.  The species
would probably survive.  As for our technology, and those things we think
make life worthwhile, that is another matter.

>second ques:
>
>Nuclear war doesn't wear off for a while (the radiation i mean), same thing
>with germ warfare. Hand to hand is be far the mildest, but it still shouldn't
>happen.
>
>Third question:
>
>I have no idea WHY you would want to kill other people because of some stupid
>argument a president started 10 years ago. There is really no good excuse to
>have nuckear weapons in the first place.
>
>If you asked the question "Why do you have nuclear weapons"
>
>You might get a response:
>
>"They had them first"
>
>or maybe
>
>"There number exceedes our amount by far..."
>
>What sort of reasons are those???

Fear.

>When do you think it (World WAR III) will happen, if ever??
>
>I will also make a survey of how many people are against nukes, and haw many
>people think they are necessary for defense.