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From: jeff@rtech.ARPA (Jeff Lichtman)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Re: Re: World War III
Message-ID: <146@rtech.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 13-Feb-85 03:01:03 EST
Article-I.D.: rtech.146
Posted: Wed Feb 13 03:01:03 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 14-Feb-85 19:00:34 EST
References: <3329@alice.UUCP> <262@talcott.UUCP> <471@whuxl.UUCP> <273@talcott.UUCP>
Organization: Relational Technology, Berkeley CA
Lines: 34

> > > *Whether or not* nukes are a good idea in the modern world (on the face of
> > > it, they are not), those reasons for not having them are severely lacking.
> > > Would you, for example, hold this philosophy about weapons in general if
> > > you were a Pole in 1939?  In fact, the Britons and the French had precisely
> > > this philosophy in 1939, which is why they didn't help the Poles much in
> > > that year.
> > > 			Greg Kuperberg
> > > 		     harvard!talcott!gjk
> >  
> > Yes, I'm sure the Poles would have been glad to have a nuclear war
> > in Europe.........
> 
> Oh, you're completely right.  The Poles, French, and British should have
> thrown all of their arms into the ocean, and surely the Germans would have
> been quick to follow!
> ---
> 			Greg Kuperberg
> 		     harvard!talcott!gjk

AAARGH!  This is EXTREMELY illogical.  The question is not one of complete
unilateral disarmament, including conventional weapons .  You should know, Greg,
since the original posting is yours.  The question is whether there are reasons
for not having nuclear weapons (see your own posting above, Greg).  There are
some very good reasons, including the prospect of nuclear winter.  If a nuclear
war would really cause another ice age, then "winning" a nuclear war would
destroy the "winner".  This should provide a strong incentive for all nuclear
powers to negotiate for the omnilateral elimination of nuclear weapons, or at
least the reduction of nuclear forces to levels where a nuclear winter couldn't
happen.  This isn't just smoke; according to Thomas Power's November article in
The Atlantic, both the U.S. and Soviet military are researching whether the
theory is true, and if so, what should be done about it.
-- 
Jeff Lichtman at rtech (Relational Technology, Inc.)
aka Swazoo Koolak