ARMS-D-Request@MIT-MC.ARPA (Moderator) (01/03/86)
Arms-Discussion Digest Thursday, January 2, 1986 6:01PM
Volume 5, Issue 85
Today's Topics:
Kadafi's Libya
Cooperating WWI soldiers
technological advance != death
Aircraft Carriers
Summits
Conflict Resolution
WWII & WWI
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Date: Thu, 2 Jan 86 9:58:11 EST
From: Jim Hofmann <hofmann@AMSAA.ARPA>
Subject: Kadafi's Libya
I have heard people say that Kadafi's recent remarks are paramount
to a declaration of war and that we should respond by attacking now
particularly before he builds his long-range nuclear missle.
Israel is apparently preparing to do this right now. Question is:
will Egypt let Israel go through its territory to attact Libya's
weak side.
"If they ["civilian Palestinians"] are followed and harassed, then
we have the right to follow and harass American citizens in their own
streets and we have the right to follow Jews in the occupied Palestine."
"agression [against Libya would mark the] beginning of the end."
"There will be no peace in the Mediterranean, no American airlines,
no trade, military or non-military ... It will turn over the table
(???) both within the Mediterranean zone and in the Middle East, perhaps
in the world" [KADAFI]
[IN THE SAME ARTICLE] "..the Reagan administration is reported to have
approved a CIA plan to subvert his regime ... have ... two potential
trgets in Libya in possible US reaction to the airport attacts."
[IN A RELATED ARTICLE] Peres of Israel says they will "act with all the
means at its disposal: pre-emptive operations, direct confrontation
and punitive measures"to combat Palestinian attacts."
"One must ask why Libya [key oil supplier to Europe] is exempt from
political, legal or economic punitive measures - as thought one can maintain
a murder-state ... From Libya come people with silencer-equipped
pistols, and to Libya return people who have committed cold-blooded
murder"
If we join Israel in a "surgical attack" (of which the present
administration is fond of talking about) will Russia react militarily?
Comments?
<I got this information all from the newspapers so standard disclaimers
are of course in order.>
hofmann
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Subject: Cooperating WWI soldiers
Date: 02 Jan 86 10:26:45 EST (Thu)
From: dm@BBN-VAX.ARPA
The cooperation of soldiers in the trenches during WWI was described
by R. Axelrod in ``The Evolution of Cooperation''. Basically, since
troops were stuck opposite one another for long periods of time along
a stable front, they devloped a ``live and let-live'' strategy, much
to the disgust of their officers.
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Date: Thu, 2 Jan 86 9:47:13 EST
From: Bruce Nevin <bnevin@bbncch.ARPA>
Subject: technological advance != death
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Received: from HARVARD.HARVARD.EDU by BBNCCH ; 2 Jan 86 04:03:55 EST
Date: Thu, 2 Jan 86 02:06:00 EST
From: alpert@harvard.HARVARD.EDU (Richard Alpert)
To: bn@bbncch.arpa
. . . I would only add that technological
advances do not always cause older systems to die. Were it not for the
computer, for example, long ago we would have had to redesign completely
our way of banking and exchanging stocks and bonds. The introduction of
computers allowed the continued use of a system which, in essence, is
horribly inefficient.
Richard Alpert
alpert@harvard
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And this is the down side of technological advance. It is being used as
a means to continue systems of international conduct that are hopelessly
obsolete. This is why we must always and consistently choose
appropriate uses and appropriate ways of using technology, no matter how
insignificant the context seems. In cybernetic terms, even a small
activity can constitute a difference that makes a big difference. A new
resonance, and consequently a new coherence, is building in the systems
in which we live and move and have our being, and that is something to
which anyone can respond and contribute.
Bruce Nevin
bn@bbncch.arpa
BBN Communications
33 Moulton Street
Cambridge, MA 02238
(617) 497-3992
[My opinions reflect those of many, but no one, including my employer,
has to own up to it.]
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End of Arms-Discussion Digest
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