[net.politics] Nuclear silliness II

tbray@mprvaxa (12/01/83)

x <-- USENET insecticide
In a discussion of the issues surrounding nuclear disarmament,
Peter Moore raises the issue of the protection of Western Europe.

I feel that the issue of Western Europe is completely divorced
from that of nuclear disarmament.  It seems self-evident to me
that the one thing the Soviets would NEVER do is invade Western
Europe.  Yes, I know that they have an adventurist track 
record in the Third World and no compunctions about maintaining
client states in Eastern Europe.

What would invading Western Europe (if the invasion succeeded)
win them?  A huge, sophisticated, used-to-democracy
population which would resist both above-ground and underground
every step of the way.  The Soviets have enough trouble holding
down the broken-spirited populations of Eastern Europe, most of
whom have no experience of democracy.  They seem to average about
one invasion-requiring crisis per decade as it is.

What would the invasion cost them?  Even if the alarmists are
right about the Soviet advantage in conventional forces, It is
just silly to argue that a conventional war for Western Europe
would be anything but a bloody, prohibitively expensive mess
for the Soviets.  

While there may be some reasonable arguments for the presence
of a few - say 1/1000th of the current count - of nuclear
weapons in the hands of the superpowers, preventing a Soviet
invasion of Western Europe is not one of them.  

Does that mean that all that US money and political capital being
spent on intermediate range weapons in Europe is being wasted?
Yep.  The defense contractors love it, though, so the National
Conservative Political Action Committee does too, so the Republican
Party has to, I guess...
	Tim Bray	...decvax!microsoft!ubc-vision!mprvaxa!tbray

alle@ihuxb.UUCP (Allen England) (12/02/83)

>

Tim Bray thinks that we shouldn't spend any money defending Western
Europe as the Soviets would not invade it.

Do you really think the Soviets would not try to blackmail parts
of Western Europe if the need (from the Soviet point of view)
arose?

What about the Soviet blockade of West Berlin?  What if that happened
again?  Do you think we should just concede that to the Soviets?

How far should we go?  Should we let the Soviets annex small pieces
of Western Europe at their leisure?

I think you should examine the historical facts a little.

Allen England at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Naperville, IL
ihnp4!ihuxb!alle

mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) (12/13/83)

What about the Soviet blockade of West Berlin?  What if that happened
again?  Do you think we should just concede that to the Soviets?
========
I don't remember any nuclear threats being involved with breaking
the Berlin blockade. An air supply line was formed to keep West Berlin
fed and clothed. Eventually the Russians realized we could keep it
up as long as they wanted, and stopped the blockade.

===============
I think you should examine the historical facts a little.
=====
Yup.
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Subject: Re: Nuclear silliness II - (nf)
*s/(.*/Berlin blockade/p
Subject: Re: Nuclear silliness II - Berlin blockade
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again?  Do you think we should just concede that to the Soviets?
*a

(from Allen England)
.
*w
616
*q
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Martin Taylor
{allegra,linus,ihnp4,uw-beaver,floyd,ubc-vision}!utzoo!dciem!mmt