Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 beta 3/9/83; site aquila.UUCP
Path: utzoo!dciem!aquila!chris
From: chris@aquila.UUCP (chris)
Newsgroups: can.general,can.ai
Subject: Re: Star Wars North
Message-ID: <6@aquila.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 29-Mar-85 13:35:25 EST
Article-I.D.: aquila.6
Posted: Fri Mar 29 13:35:25 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 29-Mar-85 21:19:45 EST
References: <890@ubc-vision.CDN>
Organization: Consensys Corporation.
Lines: 37


     Canada should support its NATO allies and the United States
in its Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) for the following reasons:

- SDI is a research project and as such is not destabilizing.
Actual deployment of defensive systems would be destabilizing, unless both
sides deployed roughly equivalent systems at the same time.  However, after
an effective defense system is deployed, greater stability should result.
The possibility of war started by belligerent nations with nuclear weapons
or the potential for creating them (examples: Israel, Iraq, Pakistan, India,
Brazil, South Korea, or South Africa) then escalating into general war would be
greatly lessened.

- Canada is a member of NATO, and NATO has approved the SDI research.

- The Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty does not disallow research and development
of anti-ballistic missiles or other defensive systems.

- militarization of scientific research is not an automatic result
of SDI. Research dollars will flow into SDI-related work; this may
imply less dollars for other work, but not a militarization of that
work. Less dollars for other work is lamentable, but defence may be
more important to more people.

- all defence spending is a 'waste'; in this imperfect world, however,
every nation must spend money on defence to survive. SDI is NOT a job
creation scheme; neither is feeding and clothing our regular armed forces!
Solely economic arguments for SDI are rightfully suspect.

- nuclear weapons threaten our survival; anything that lessens that
threat is worth pursuing. Instead of targetting Russian children,
SDI proposes to target Russian missles.

>          As professionals we must speak up and let the    
>     decision makers know our feelings, loud and clear.

	You just heard my opinions.