phl@druxy.UUCP (08/30/84)
A reply to Jerry Nowlin: >First you seem to indicate that when we eliminate our nuclear arsenal the >Soviets will try to blackmail us with theirs. ............................ Of course they would. Wouldn't we do the same if they disarmed? The strong always intimidate the weak. Even when they don't intend to do it. >Second you seem to think that Russian leaders are inherently bad. What makes >you think a man or woman can't rise to power in a country as large and diverse >as Russia without being evil? ............................................... You musn't be old enough to remember the period immediately following Stalin's death. Every few weeks another premier took over after his predecessor was blown away. Look 'em up. Malenkov, Beria, Bulganin and on and on until Krusch- chev. There wasn't anybody left alive with a mob big enough to bump him off. It was like Chicago in the twenties. The bozos now taking over as the old Bolshe- viks die off grew up during that period and learned their civics from those guys. >..................... Lets get rid of these planet destroying weapons. The only thing that has prevented the war we don't want for the last thirty years is the maintaining of the balance of terror. Neither country gets too far ahead of the other in either offensive or defensive capability. Carl Sagan very wisely compared our dilemma to that of two implacable enemies locked in a room full of gas. One has 900 matches; the other, 1200. If either one strikes a match it's all over. The only thing to do is to agree to get rid of the gas. What does one do if he sees the other putting on a flameproof suit? The only hope for life on this planet is a negotiated mutual reduction in arms agreed to by all the involved nations. The failure of that jingoistic fool in the Whitehouse to see that he has dragged us back into the days of the Cold War through the use of his belligerent irrational uncompromising posturings will someday probably drag life on this planet two billion or so years back down the evolutionary ladder. Until a few years ago I, personally, believed that I would see WWIII in my lifetime. Things seemed to be getting better and recentlyI began to think I was going to end up in a pine box instead of just another shadow burned into the concrete pavement. Dammit, just when I thought it was safe to come out of the shelter..... - Phil Lavette p.s. In a previous net article you indicated that you thought our highly credible conventional force would protect us. I would remind you that in spite of some severe reverses the Japanese still had a credible conventional force on August 8, 1945.
mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) (08/31/84)
===============
You musn't be old enough to remember the period immediately following Stalin's
death. Every few weeks another premier took over after his predecessor was
blown away. Look 'em up. Malenkov, Beria, Bulganin and on and on until Krusch
-
chev. There wasn't anybody left alive with a mob big enough to bump him off. I
t
was like Chicago in the twenties. The bozos now taking over as the old Bolshe-
viks die off grew up during that period and learned their civics from those
guys.
===============
Maybe you are old enough, but your memory is failing. Only one of the
people you listed was killed, and he was never a "premier" or other
leader. On Stalin's death, the rest of the Praesidium were dead scared
of Beria, who was Stalin's secret police chief, and they got rid of him.
Since Stalin, all Soviet leaders, whether Party Secretaries or Presidents,
have either been voted out or died of what seem to be natural causes.
Malenkov was around for a long time after he became a private citizen.
And the changes at the top didn't happen every few weeks (I know, time
seems compressed when you get senile, doesn't it).
What the "bozos now taking over" learned was that Stalin's methods were
not healthy, and they have followed the traditions established by
Malenkov and particularly by Khruschev: get your power base solid,
and then get voted into office by the appropriate body for the office you want.
--
Martin Taylor
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