arms-d@ucbvax.ARPA (01/17/85)
From: Moderator <ARMS-D@MIT-MC.ARPA> Arms-Discussion Digest Volume 3 : Issue 5 Today's Topics: Eye problems answers to test on Soviet/US quotes Reagan's press conference Beyond War prize ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 12 Jan 85 16:19 EST From: Herb Lin <LIN@MIT-MC.ARPA> Subject: Eye problems To: DIETZ@RUTGERS.ARPA cc: ARMS-DISCUSSION@MIT-MC.ARPA, kyle.wbst@RUTGERS.ARPA Edward Teller made a comment some time ago that a 100 megaton bomb detonated at high altitude could start fires over an entire continent. Does anyone have a reference to his statement? If by high altitude he meant exoatmospheric I could imagine a 100 megaton bomb delivering a < 1 second optical burst at perhaps 100 kilowatts per square meter over large areas (higher powers for shorter bursts). I wouldn't think such bombs would scale down too well, since the height of the atmosphere is constant. I find this statement hard to believe. It takes about 20 cal/cm^2 to ignite wood, or about 80 j/cm^2, or 8e5 j/m^2. The radiation time of a nuclear weapon is much less than one second (I think about 1e-4 sec). I wonder if Titan warheads are big enough to get this effect? Titan warheads are 9 MT each. ------------------------------ Date: 12 Jan 85 18:52 EST From: Herb Lin <LIN@MIT-MC.ARPA> Subject: answers to test on Soviet/US quotes To: ARMS-D@MIT-MC.ARPA A few weeks ago, I posted the following quotes with a challenge to the readership to identify them as either Soviet or American. Here are the answers, and what people thought they were. (4 people responded) 1. Our military doctrine is purely defensive. The character of our armed forces, the principles of their formation, and their strategy and tactics have been and continue to be based on the idea of repulsing aggression and threats directed at ourselves and our friends. 1. D. F. Ustinov, Minister of Defense, USSR, Pravda, 7/12/82 4 - Soviet/0 - US 2. The power of nuclear weapons will be concentrated above all toward destruction of the military and economic potential, defeat of the armed forces, and undermining the morale of the population. Very important strategic missions can be the destruction of the largest industrial, administrative or political centers, power centers, and stocks of strate- gic raw materials; disorganization of the system of state and military control; destruction of the main transport centers; and destruction of primary units of the armed forces, especially the means of nuclear attack. 2. Major General V. Zemskov, "Characteristic Feature of Modern Wars and Possible Methods of Conducting Them", Voyennaya mysl, 7/69 2 - Soviet/2 - US 3. The nuclear forces of the XXX (US or SU) target [are aimed at] the nuclear forces (of the US or SU), conventional military forces, command posts, communications facilities, war supporting industry, and industry that contribute to economic recovery. 3. US Defense Department testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, March 1980. The XXX refers to the US, YYY to the Soviets. 2 - Soviet/ 2 - US 4. Our strategy is defensive. Our strategy excludes the possibility that the XXX would initiate war. The XXX would use its military strength only in response to aggression, not to pre-empt it. Once an aggressor has initiated an attack, however, the principle of non-aggression would not impose a purely defensive strategy in fighting back. 4. Caspar Weinberger, Secretary of Defense Report FY1984. The XXX refers to the US. 3 - Soviet / 1 - US 5. The introduction of nuclear weapons onto the battlefield neither negates the principles of war, nor causes the development of new ones. The intensity of nuclear conflict emphasizes these fundamental truths, and demands the competent application of these principles by those who would succeed in battle. 5. Tactical Nuclear Operations, FM-100-30, U.S. Army, 1971 1 - Soviet / 2 - US / 1 - don't know 6. It is well known that the essential nature of war as a continuation of politics does not change with changing technology and armament. 6. V.D. Sokolovskii, Soviet Military Strategy, RAND, 1963 2 - Soviet / 1 - US / 1 - Don't Know. Thanks to all who participated. ------------------------------ From: Robert Elton Maas <REM@IMSSS.SU.EDU.ARPA> To:ARMS-D@MIT-MC.ARPA Subject:Reagan's press conference re "star wars" and military budget Reply-to: REM@MIT-MC.ARPA Did anybody besides yours-truly catch these two items from Reagan's press conference? (1) He's trying to talk about negotiating new treaties with the USSR, but he made a special point of saying that mere research (not deployment) of star-wars defense doesn't violate the ABM treaty so he's going ahead on it. Well, massive buildup of arms doesn't violate the ABM treaty either, so is he going ahead with that too? So what's the point he's making? It seems his statement off the point. (2) He made a slip of the tongue and said the defense department ended up INCREASING the budget more than was requsted of it. (He meant DECREASING, or at least I think he did.) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 Jan 85 9:03:30 EST From: Bruce Nevin <bnevin@BBNCCH.ARPA> Subject: Beyond War prize To: ARMS-D@MIT-MC.ARPA From Leading Edge V.8:1 Beyond War prize awarded to two physicians Linked by a joint satellite broadcast, two doctors--one in the US, the other in the USSR--received this year's Beyond War Award. Evgueni Chazov, director of the USSR National Cardiological Research Center, and Bernard Lown, cardiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health, won the award for their efforts to avert nuclear war. The two doctors co-founded International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), which has more than 100,000 members in 54 countries. The organization's two largest affiliates are Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) in the US and the Soviet Committee of Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War in the USSR. More than 50 organizations or individuals were nominated for this year's award. The selection committee included Jonas Salk, Andrew Young, Carl Sagan, and Helen Caldicott. The festive `spacebridge' enabled an audience of 3,000 people in San Francisco's Masonic Auditorium to join together with 800 Soviet citizens in a Moscow TV studio for the ceremony. The San Francisco Boys Choir performed for the occasion. `This year's award recognizes the determination of thousands of physicians who use their influence worldwide to prevent nuclear war,' said James Burch, Southern California coordinator of Beyond War. `We're honoring Americans and Soviets jointly for their efforts to preserve human life.' Chazov played a key role in the 1982 `Moscow telecast', in which Soviet and American physicians discussed the medical aspects of nuclear war before millions of Soviet citizens. Lown was a PSR founder and its first president. Information: Creative Initiative, 222 High St., Palo Alto, Calif. 94301, (415) 328-7756. *************************************** From Leading Edge V.8:2 This April 25, an informal delegation of Americans led by World War II vetarans will meet with a similar Soviet group near Targau in the German Democratic Republic. On that date 40 years earlier, the US and Red Armies linked up, an action that sealed the downfall of the Third Reich. `The meeting in 1945 was the highlight of US/Soviet relations,' said tour organizer Bob Swann. `We hope that the second meeting will signal a new beginning between the two countries.' The tour, April 20-May 2, is sponsored by the Council on Intercultural Relations, a group working for world peace through direct intercultural contacts. Council: Bryan World Tours, Box 4156, Topeka, Kan 66604, (800)255-3507 *************************************** Leading Edge, a Bulletin of Social Change, sister publication of Brain/Mind Bulletin, is available biweekly from PO Box 42050, Los Angeles, Calif. 90042. Bruce Nevin Bolt Beranek and Newman ------------------------------ [End of ARMS-D Digest]