bill@inteloc.UUCP (09/07/84)
>> Private statements, actions, and policies of the KGB (also reflective >> of the Soviet government's position) indicate that an active unremitting >> campaign has been in progress for at least 30 years with the principal >> goal of undermining Western and Western-sympathetic governments, >> institutions, and philosophies. (yes, yes, yes, I know; we have the >> sometimes suspect actions of our CIA as an albatross--all the more >> reason to keep them under control and prevent them from making de facto >> policies and taking unilateral actions). > All the more reason, I think, for giving it more power so that > it can effectively challenge the KGB in these countries (and > undermine USSR-sympathetic governments). You have to fight fire > with fire, and if half the country knows exactly what the CIA is > up to all the time, and whether or not it will do some espionage > must be determined by a vote of congress, it can't be very effective. No! ! ! The "fight fire with fire" philosophy is what got us into this mess in the first place. Fire is fought with prevention techniques. FFWF could work if each side has the same view of the danger of each advance by either side, but this requires trust/verification. The idea of "spanking" an adversary for some action requires 1) the physical capability to make the punishment felt and 2) the ability to make the adversary "feel" the punishment, to personally acknowledge that a loss has been sustained. Point 2, especially, is missing in US-USSR "relations", due to the difference in operative philosophies. How badly did the boycotts of the 1980 and 1984 Olympics "punish" the host nations? To me, the philosphy is not one of punishment, but one of barely effective grandstanding. It's like election campaigning: the object is to gain outside support rather than to discuss an issue. You buy them books and buy them books, and all they do is eat the pages. -- T.F.Prune (Bill Wickart) {allegra | ihnp4 | tektronix} !ogcvax!inteloa -- "Operator, trace this call and tell me where I am"