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From: matthews@harvard.ARPA (Jim Matthews)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Important Vote
Message-ID: <497@harvard.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 19-Mar-85 19:51:49 EST
Article-I.D.: harvard.497
Posted: Tue Mar 19 19:51:49 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 23-Mar-85 00:52:01 EST
References: <680@ihopb.UUCP> <489@harvard.ARPA> <636@tty3b.UUCP>
Organization: Aiken Computation Laboratory, Harvard
Lines: 27

> These people are seeking to overthrow an elected government.  You may not
> like that government.  That is irrelevant; you are not Nicaraguan.  There
> may be people in Nicaragua who don't like that government.  They can oppose
> it through the electoral system, which they reject.  If they seek to overthrow
> that government, then they are criminals and should be dealt with as such.
> If the U.S. conspires with them to overthrow that government, then we are in
> violation of the UN Charter and various other international laws.
> 
> Mike Kelly

	Sounds like what the Athenians said about Sparta.

	I'll bet you sleep easy at night, knowing that you wouldn't condone
the violation of such important things as the UN Charter and "various other
international laws."  It's wonderful to live in a country that takes the law
so seriously, so far as to be under the delusion that it even governs the 
actions of nations.  You, surely, would have have invoked the Kellogg-Briand 
Pact to prevent our war on Germany in 1941 -- after all, they
elected their government, and if the jews don't like it they can "oppose
it through the electoral system."  Which is not to say that Nicaragua is
Nazi Germany, because that doesn't matter -- what does is your belief that
nations are ruled by pieces of paper. We enjoy a blessedly liberal
political system, but trying to apply it to international affairs is an
invitation to lose it. 

Jim Matthews
matthews@harvard