andersa@kuling.UUCP (Anders Andersson) (05/06/86)
[I'm directing comments to net.politics, aware that I won't be able to read them, unless redirected or sent by mail. Still I think this is important.] In article <593@umich.UUCP> torek@zippy.UUCP (Paul V. Torek ) writes: >It may be the best; at least if we deny the terrorists their goals: changes >of policy on our part in the direction they desire. Those who recommend >doing this in the name of "addressing the root causes of terrorism" certainly >have a strange notion of how to discourage an activity: reward it. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder..." Yes, I see your point, but what does it mean in practice? PLO has indeed committed terrorist actions "on behalf of the Palestinian people". Should we therefore deny Palestinians any demands or wishes they might have, regardless of whether they are "right" or "wrong" in what they ask for? If not forever, for how long? There are numerous peoples all around the world who find their own situation unpleasant or unfair in some way or another. For some of them, terrorist groups have been formed, for others not (yet). In order to set a good example, we should all rush to the assistance of the latter, while they still exist - it would of course be best if all (potential) problems could get a peaceful solution from the very beginning. Unfortunately, we can't turn the time backwards, and I agree that it's a dilemma - what to do with all those "root causes" that will remain? -- Anders Andersson, Dept. of Computer Systems, Uppsala University, Sweden Phone: +46 18 183170 UUCP: andersa@kuling.UUCP (...!{seismo,mcvax}!enea!kuling!andersa)
tan@ihlpg.UUCP (Bill Tanenbaum) (05/12/86)
> There are numerous peoples all around the world who find their own > situation unpleasant or unfair in some way or another. For some of them, > terrorist groups have been formed, for others not (yet). In order to set > a good example, we should all rush to the assistance of the latter, while > they still exist - it would of course be best if all (potential) problems > could get a peaceful solution from the very beginning. Unfortunately, we > can't turn the time backwards, and I agree that it's a dilemma - what to > do with all those "root causes" that will remain? > Anders Andersson, Dept. of Computer Systems, Uppsala University, Sweden --------------- The above is incredibly naive and simplistic. What, for example, would Mr. Andersson do about Puerto Rican independence, Quebec separatists, Basque separatists, Breton separatists, etc. Are their "root causes" justified? The Puerto Rican independence party gets less than 10% of the vote. Should Puerto Rico be severed from the United States against the will of more than 90% of the people of Puerto Rico just to avoid a few acts of terrorism? One person's peaceful solution is another person's "root cause". -- Bill Tanenbaum - AT&T Bell Labs - Naperville IL ihnp4!ihlpg!tan
gtaylor@astroatc.UUCP (oh...*Gregory* Taylor...never mind.) (05/13/86)
I'd just like to mention that there's an excellent, thought-provoking article by Connor Cruise O'Brien on Terrorism in the latest issue of the Atlantic Monthly (it's the one with "The Origins of the Underclass" as its cover story). I recommend it highly. -- "And all the seven heavens showed to me/their magnitudes, their speeds, the distances/of each from each. The little threshing floor/that so incites our savagery was all-/from hills to river mouths-revealed to me..." Dante, Paradiso (XX I,148-152) Gregory Taylor (gtaylor@astroatc)
andersa@kuling.UUCP (Anders Andersson) (05/19/86)
In article <1902@ihlpg.UUCP> tan@ihlpg.UUCP writes: >> There are numerous peoples all around the world who find their own >> situation unpleasant or unfair in some way or another. For some of them, >> terrorist groups have been formed, for others not (yet). In order to set >> a good example, we should all rush to the assistance of the latter, while >> they still exist - it would of course be best if all (potential) problems >> could get a peaceful solution from the very beginning. Unfortunately, we >> can't turn the time backwards, and I agree that it's a dilemma - what to >> do with all those "root causes" that will remain? >> Anders Andersson, Dept. of Computer Systems, Uppsala University, Sweden >--------------- >The above is incredibly naive and simplistic. What, for example, would >Mr. Andersson do about Puerto Rican independence, Quebec separatists, >Basque separatists, Breton separatists, etc. Are their "root causes" >justified? The Puerto Rican independence party gets less than 10% of the >vote. Should Puerto Rico be severed from the United States against the >will of more than 90% of the people of Puerto Rico just to avoid a few >acts of terrorism? > One person's peaceful solution is another person's "root cause". >-- >Bill Tanenbaum - AT&T Bell Labs - Naperville IL ihnp4!ihlpg!tan I'm sorry if I was a bit unclear. I was arguing against the suggestion, that those who want to solve the "root causes" have a strange notion of fighting terrorism, namely "rewarding" it. I didn't say that national separation is a good and peaceful "solution" to any problem at all, and I don't think it is either. Still, the world is not perfect - most people today live in countries which are not democracies (ok, I haven't counted them, but maybe "half" is close), and some of them suffers quite bad treatment. I'm not thinking of Puerto Ricans or Basques, but of for instance the Kurds in Turkey. Speaking or teaching Kurdish is forbidden there, and they are discriminated in other ways. So what happens? Yes, yet another three-letter combination (*) enters the news headlines, claiming "the rights of their people" or whatever they think they exist for. I don't want to give these individuals anything except for a prompt trial and verdict (they actually gunned down one of their own countrymen in my town), but still I believe the Kurdish _people_ deserves our attention (I know a few of them). May we assist them, or will we then be "rewarding" those terrorists? It's difficult to be brief and avoid misunderstandings at the same time, and in my previous posting I was speaking in the context of what I commented on. I hope the above isn't too simplistic or naive. It's more or less a question. (*) I prefer not spelling out their name, and thereby giving them any more publicity than they already have. -- Anders Andersson, Dept. of Computer Systems, Uppsala University, Sweden Phone: +46 18 183170 UUCP: andersa@kuling.UUCP (...!{seismo,mcvax}!enea!kuling!andersa)