halle1@houxz.UUCP (J.HALLE) (08/17/84)
Has anyone stopped to think that maybe Reagan's remark was not a poor joke, but really a shrewd tactical move? Perhaps he intended for the Kremlin to start thinking: Omygawd! He really would do it. And he would surely blast us if we started it. Maybe we better get to the table after all and see if we can limit what's there, so that he won't do it. Sure, it's unlikely, but he didn't get as far as he did by being naive. Sometimes it takes a baseball bat to the head to get someone's attention.
orb@whuxl.UUCP (SEVENER) (08/20/84)
Reagan's remark about bombing the Russians in five minutes
was to force them to the bargaining table?!!!
Come now! I have heard of some farfetched explanations for
stupid and dangerous blunders but this is stretching the
imagination! Ronald Reagan does NOT want any arms treaties with
the Russians--he has never supported an arms control treaty
negotiated by ANY president, not even those negotiated by
Nixon and Ford. Indeed in a speech in May 1981 Ronald Reagan
forecast very well the future of his nuclear policy:
"The argument, if there is any, will be over which
weapons, not whether we should forsake weaponry for
treaties and agreements."
And so coupled with the greatest arms buildup in the world's
history we have the first president in 20 years who has not
concluded a single arms control treaty with the Soviets.
Instead Reagan's Administration has already announced plans
to break SALT II in 1985 with the deployment of an additional
Trident submarine--treaties are being broken or left behind
in the scramble for every conceivable weapon. Thus there is
not even an argument in the Reagan Administrations mind about
which weapons will be supported--they will ALL be supported.
I do not think that traditional Democratic nostrums of more
gov't funds will solve every problem and so Mondale is not
my favorite candidate. But Ronald Reagan for four more years
without facing re-election scares me to death. This man
is dangerous!
Tim Sevener
whuxl!orb
Bell Labs, Whippanyrcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) (08/22/84)
I think I've figured out why so many people (including myself) have reacted
so strongly and so negatively to Reagan's mike-test remark about bombing
the USSR:
In four years, it's one of the few statements we've had out of the
man about what his foreign policy (if any) might be!
--
Dick Dunn {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303)444-5710 x3086
...Are you making this up as you go along?hawk@oliven.UUCP (08/25/84)
>Instead Reagan's Administration has already announced plans >to break SALT II in 1985 with the deployment of an additional >Trident submarine--treaties are being broken or left behind >in the scramble for every conceivable weapon. Did I miss something or was the SALT II treaty tossed before being ratified? You can't fault someone for not keeping a treaty that isn't in effect. -- rick (Rick Hawkins @ Olivetti ATC) [hplabs|zehntel|fortune|ios|tolerant|allegra|tymix]!oliveb!oliven!hawk