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Path: utzoo!watmath!watnot!watmum!cdshaw
From: cdshaw@watmum.UUCP (Chris Shaw)
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: risks, methods of defence
Message-ID: <161@watmum.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 14-Jun-85 00:27:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: watmum.161
Posted: Fri Jun 14 00:27:53 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 14-Jun-85 04:42:15 EDT
References: <964@ubc-vision.CDN> <289@looking.UUCP>
Reply-To: cdshaw@watmum.UUCP (Chris Shaw)
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 36

The reason why NATO has nuclear capability is that none of the NATO allies
is really willing to spend the required amount of money to keep a conventional 
force of the appropriate size in Europe. This has been the case since 1948
(roughly). In fact, right from the start, this has been NATO policy... save
money on real troops by relying on the US nuclear umbrella. 


...

To answer a point made by Brad in an earlier posting, he is afraid/wary of 
Soviet takeover, and he mentioned Czechoslovakia in 1968. There are 2 points
I'd like to make...

	1) To be perfectly egocentric.. Czechoslovakia isn't North America.
	We are not talking about OUR secruity, but someone else's, and I think
	it's important to remember that distinction.

	2) Czechoslovakia was never "ours" to begin with. It was (since 1945)
	a sattelite state of the USSR. The actions of 1968 were to remind the
	world in general (and the Czech gov't in particular) that the USSR
	means business when it sees a "security threat" on its borders.
	The USSR's action is analogous to what's going on in Nicaragua with
	the US.

Of course, one might argue that it would have been worth the effort to free
the people of Czechoslovakia, but we weren't ready (militarily, see above),
and the USSR would SEVERELY doubt our motives. It could easily be interpreted
as the opening skirmishes to an invasion of the USSR proper.

This doesn't mean I like the Soviet actions in Czechoslovakia in 1968, just
that one's political/philosophical views shouldn't get in the way of reality.


Chris Shaw    watmath!watmum!cdshaw  or  cdshaw@watmath
University of Waterloo
In doubt?  Eat hot high-speed death -- the experts' choice in gastric vileness !