orb@whuxl.UUCP (SEVENER) (03/24/86)
Mr. Hill repeats the standard excuses which were made by supporters
of the nuclear arms race 20 years ago:
> > > 2)The Soviets *have* unilaterally stopped all their nuclear testing.
> > > They have stopped such testing since last August. Yet the US refuses
> > > to stop its testing (specifically Reagan refuses to stop and to this date
> > > Congress has not cutoff funds for nuclear testing) Indeed Reagan
> > > ordered a nuclear test soon after the Geneva Summit in case there was
> > > any doubt of his determination to continue the nuclear arms race.
> > .
> > > tim sevener whuxn!orb
> >
> > The Soviets offered this test ban only AFTER THEY WERE DONE. Offering their
> > test ban meant nothing to them since they did not have anymore planned
> > in the near future. Awfully generous of them, eh Tim? You also implied that
> > the Soviets have cutoff funds for testing, how about posting your source.
> > No testing != no testing planned for the future.
> >
> > Tom Hill
Let's get some facts straight here, Tom. How many nuclear tests did the
Soviets conduct before they announced their moratorium?
Eight.
How many did the US conduct last year?
Thirteen *announced* tests.
(there is also evidence from a Swedish Defense Research Institute that
there were other *unannounced* tests. Before last year American policy
was to announce all nuclear tests. It should be no surprise that Reagan
changed that policy)
It is therefore *bogus* to claim that the Soviets are ahead in nuclear tests.
Moreover it will hardly help matters if Reagan refuses to stop
our nuclear tests and therefore the Soviets go back to testing new
nuclear weapons. Please explain how this makes us safer, Tom.
Do you suppose we will be safer if the Soviets begin testing new nuclear
warheads? I wonder how?........
Twenty years ago the arms race at any cost school claimed that it was
useless for Kennedy to stop American atmospheric nuclear tests. So
what if strontium-90 was found in baby's teeth and mother's milk?
The nuclear arms race *MUST* go on! Or else we would be frightfully
behind, the Soviets would cheat on an atmospheric test ban, the Soviets
were ahead of us, and so forth and so on.
Kennedy began a unilateral moratorium on US atmospheric testing despite
these hysterical pronouncements.
Do you know the result, Tom?
Within 6 months the USSR joined the American moratorium and the Limited
Test Ban Treaty banning atmospheric nuclear tests by both sides was
signed. The Soviets have never conducted an atmospheric nuclear test
since then according to our own Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The excuses for Ronald Reagan are beginning to wear out. The first
excuse was verification - but then Gorbachev agreed to on-site
inspections. Moreover leaders of concerned nations on five
continents *URGED* the US to join the test ban and offered to verify
the Soviet testing moratorium. Gorbachev accepted this offer of
neutral verification and on-site inspections. Reagan kept on testing.
Then it was argued that the US needed testing to insure the reliability
of its nuclear warheads. Funny thing was, that scientists who had
worked on such weapon systems testified that our nuclear stockpile
was not tested for reliability anyway. Moreover if our warheads might
be considered unreliable, so might the Soviets - which should make
a first strike more risky for both sides. Still, Reagan keeps on
testing.
The real motivation for continuing nuclear testing seems to be one
which Reagan does not like to publicize- namely to allow testing
of a nuclear-based X-ray laser. To publicize that would be to
also publicize that the supposedly "non-nuclear" Start Wars program
is not necessarily non-nuclear at all. That placing X-ray lasers
in space also means placing powerful nuclear reactors in space
that have the possibility of falling from orbit.
tim sevener whuxn!orb