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From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: Canadian participation in Star Wars.
Message-ID: <5645@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 30-May-85 15:34:21 EDT
Article-I.D.: utzoo.5645
Posted: Thu May 30 15:34:21 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 30-May-85 15:34:21 EDT
References: <893@mnetor.UUCP> <5642@utzoo.UUCP>, <896@mnetor.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 47

> >Planes and trucks we *know* how to defend against.  Not necessarily easy,
> >mind you, but easier than ICBMs.
> 
> 	WHAT?!?! If we know how to defend against these, How come so
> much dope gets smuggled into the country?  With only a small
> fraction of the proposed Star Wars budget I could smuggle
> humdreds of "bombs" into the US, or any other country, and
> plant them, and maintain them in a ready state.  A few might
> be intercepted, but the percentage would be good!

The resources invested in dope smuggling are probably an order of magnitude
larger than those invested in stopping it.  It's no surprise that a lot
gets through, given that imbalance.  Don't mistake this for a fundamental
inability to reduce the success rate drastically.

> >Possible, but very hard to keep completely secret.  Hard to do in bulk --
> >we're not talking one or two bombs here -- without provoking an immediate
> >war, hence useless as a deterrent...
> 
> 	Not if they don't know who was doing it. Suppose it was some
> members of a terrorist group.  Suppose the bomb were of the
> defending countries own design. Also if the bomb has not actually
> exploded I doubt that a nation would start a war over it. The
> consequences would be deadly.

When I said "hard to keep secret", I meant who's doing it as well as the
fact that someone is.  No way could this be hidden if hundreds of bombs
are involved.  If for no other reason than that the number of organizations
in the world that are capable of building hundreds of nuclear bombs is
*very* small.  Remember, we are talking about lots of bombs, not just one
or two.  Smuggling those bombs, and arming them when an "attack order"
seems imminent -- nobody in his right mind leaves explosives of any kind,
let alone nuclear weapons, ready to explode when you don't want them
exploding! -- will require hundreds of people.  No way can that many
people keep a secret that big; some of them will blab, and probably a few
of them will be planted spies.

As for whether the nation would start a war over it...  Shipping nuclear
weapons into a country is a nuclear attack in the making.  Remember, there
is no way for the defender to know that those bombs aren't going to be
exploded at once.  If other means of nuclear-weapon delivery have been
rendered impotent by defences -- and if not, why bother smuggling? --
then there is no risk of immediate devastating retaliation for starting
a war.
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry