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From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: Re: Canadian participation in Star Wars.
Message-ID: <5704@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 18-Jun-85 17:58:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: utzoo.5704
Posted: Tue Jun 18 17:58:06 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 18-Jun-85 17:58:06 EDT
References: <893@mnetor.UUCP> <5642@utzoo.UUCP> <896@mnetor.UUCP>, <970@mnetor.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 30

> I do seriously wonder what we happen if "our side" was to unilateraly disarm.
> Would the "ennemy" really have all the resources needed to invade the rest of
> the world and maintain their power?  Given that they probably do not have
> enough resources to invade with conventional weapons...

If they take it a bit at a time, sure they have.  If we disarm, they don't
need to hurry about it.  Keeping civilian populations under control is not
nearly as hard as fighting professional armies.

> ...  Even if we assume that they managed to
> successfully invade the rest of the world with conventional means, would they
> ever be able to keep their power against an opposition of 4 (or is it 5 now)
> billion people? ...

Sure they would, because some substantial fraction of those 4-5 billion
would help.  The rulers of Poland, and the people who enforce their orders,
are Poles.  Granted, things would change quickly if the Soviets weren't
lurking in the background, but active Soviet involvement is largely
unnecessary.  For another example, in most Nazi-occupied European nations,
there was no shortage of locals cooperating with the Nazis.  There were
entire SS divisions formed of volunteers from conquered countries.

And most of those 4-5 billion will be unwilling to support rebellion.  Even
in the American Revolution, a fairly classic case of well-justified revolt
against	foreign oppression, only about 1/3 of the population of the
colonies actively favored the revolution, and nearly the same number
opposed it to some degree.
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry