steiny@scc.UUCP (Don Steiny) (11/23/84)
**
A letter from Charles R. Kelly of Fairfax in Fri. Nov. 23, 1984
San Francisco Chronicle gave me a bit of a chuckle.
He pointed out that Khadafy has put politics on a new foot:
...
"Ever since the days when a king lead his army from the
front, political leaders have typically responded to
slights or perceived slights from other leaders in one
fashion. If Dictator A is mad at dictator B, A threatens
to have some of his poorest people kill off some of B's
poor people. This is hardely a threat, because in addition
to putting the economy in an expansive war footing, any
conflict only eradicates the least productive part of
society, a plus for both sides.
"What Khadafy has done is to find a cost- and politically-
effective way to get results in conflicts. His threat
is "if I don't like what you're doing, I'm not going
to kill a bunch of peasants for you, I'm going to kill
YOU."
...
"Hopefully his trend will remove the necessity of combat
between individuals with nothing against each other
except the fact that they are in different armies
and confine the casualties to the group responsible
for the conflict: our leaders.
--
scc!steiny
Don Steiny - Personetics @ (408) 425-0382
109 Torrey Pine Terr.
Santa Cruz, Calif. 95060
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