Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site decwrl.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!ucbvax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-katadn!bottom
From: bottom@katadn.DEC
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Soviet Strength
Message-ID: <884@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 17-Oct-85 07:54:18 EDT
Article-I.D.: decwrl.884
Posted: Thu Oct 17 07:54:18 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 19-Oct-85 04:34:15 EDT
Sender: daemon@decwrl.UUCP
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Lines: 39


There is another way to look at part of this problem. ie how much of the 
arms race have we brought on to ourselves? Why are the Soviets so 
paranoid? etc. 

It is apparant that they (the Soviets) are surrounded with enemies (see 
yesterday's posting by Brain Mahoney). Lets look at what we've done to 
encourage this attitude.

In the Cuban missle crisis we threatened the Soviets with a nuclear war 
to get them to remove some missle sites from Cuba. Yet we continue to 
arm our allies as close to the Soviet border as possible.

If the Soviet Union were to place two Nuclear task forces complete with 
Aircraft carriers (nukes included) subs (with missles) etc in the Gulf 
of Mexico I believe we would relive those tense days of the early 
sixties. Ie we would demand the removal of these ships. I submit that 
due to certain geographical facts (frozen seawater in most Soviet ports 
in the winter) that the Medditeranian Sea is the Soviet Union's gulf of 
Mexico. And a piss poor one at that. They have to get through the 
straits of Istanbul and then the Straits of Gibralter or the Suez canal 
in order to gain free access to the Atlantic Ocean.

 At any given time we have two task forces including two aircraft 
carriers in the Med. The offensive capacity of these ships is high they 
do carry nukes (forward deployment right?) each carrier depending on 
which class it is carries from 80-120 aircraft most of which have only 
one mission in a full scale nuke war go to Russia and drop bombs. Do not 
expect to return as your ship will probably be vapor.

So have we encouraged their paranoid behavior? Yes.

What can we do about it? I'm open for suggestions.

Dave Bottom
DEC Augusta Maine
!dec-rhea!dec-katadn!bottom

"DEC does not pay Dave to enter his opinions they are just his opinions"