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From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: Canadian participation in Star Wars.
Message-ID: <5669@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 5-Jun-85 13:29:08 EDT
Article-I.D.: utzoo.5669
Posted: Wed Jun  5 13:29:08 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 5-Jun-85 13:29:08 EDT
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Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
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As a postscript to John Hogg's comments about the US departing somewhat
from MAD-and-only-MAD...  US policy of late has moved somewhat towards
being able to fight a lengthy nuclear war (as opposed to a single quick
spasm), and there has been considerable uproar about how this attitude
(fighting a war, as opposed to just pushing all the buttons and dying)
"increases the risk of nuclear war".  I have sometimes wondered whether
in fact it's the other way 'round.  Soviet thinking about nuclear war
has always stressed the need to be able to *fight* a war well enough
that the US could not possibly win, to convince the US that there is
no point in starting one.  So in effect, the recent changes in direction
in the US may have the accidental side effect of bringing the two nations'
basic philosophies of nuclear deterrence closer together.  This improves
the chances of mutual understanding on such issues, and might actually
help *prevent* war!
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry