trc@houti.UUCP (07/14/83)
Response to Larry Kolodney on China: You are correct in drawing the conclusion that there is something inconsistent in the US supplying aid to Communist China. However, that does not mean that we should also cooperate with Russia - it could more easily mean that we should *not* cooperate with China. Note the reason for cooperating with China - to counter balance Russia. If this is a valid reason for cooperating with China, it precludes the possibility that we should cooperate with Russia. If it is not a valid reason for aiding China, then it provides no support for the validity of cooperating with Russia. If we have any other, valid, reason for cooperating with China, it has not been presented yet in this forum. Thus, your conclusion - that the only reason we are in an arms race is to support the defense industry - is not supported by the example. Tom Craver houti!trc
larry@grkermit.UUCP (Larry Kolodney) (07/15/83)
From: trc@houti.UUCP (T.CRAVER) Note the reason for cooperating with China - to counter balance Russia. If this is a valid reason for cooperating with China, it precludes the possibility that we should cooperate with Russia. If it is not a valid reason for aiding China, then it provides no support for the validity of cooperating with Russia. If we have any other, valid, reason for cooperating with China, it has not been presented yet in this forum. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tom, you're talking in circles. You say the reason for cooperating with China is to counterbalance the Russians. You don't say why we have to counterbalance the Russians, and not the Chinese. If there is something intrinsicly threatening about the Soviet Union, then there is also something intrinsicly threatening about China. Since we have demonstrated that it is NOT true about China, I think this provides support for the argument that it is not true about the Soviet Union. If you want a reason for cooperation, its very simple. The only way that humanity is going to survive in the future is through cooperation. The world is far too interdependent these days, (as various foreign loan default crises have demonstrated), to continue the wasteful, stupid, irrational, cold war. If you want to talk about rationality Mr. Objectivist, the most rational thing we can do now is to stop putting up straw men to blame the ills of the world on. To sum it up: Why is it that the Soviet Union is considered our enemy, any more so than say Argentina. Both have governments that violate freedom, and both are covetous of others territory. -- Larry Kolodney #13 (I try harder) (USENET) decvax!genrad!grkermit!larry allegra!linus!genrad!grkermit!larry harpo!eagle!mit-vax!grkermit!larry (ARPA) rms.g.lkk@mit-ai
myers@uwvax.UUCP (07/16/83)
The REAL reason for cooperating with China is that we can sell them LOTS of Coke (i.e., the real thing, not the white stuff).