opinion
Slouch By Jim Earle I How to play superpower gam
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or
Have you seen my electric fan?”
rally
Nuclear arms
a sign of the future
Last week, New York City witnessed
an historic event. On June 12, 750,000
demonstrators filled Central Park in a
show of support for freezing present
levels of nuclear armaments. The mass
rally is not only the largest political de-
behrooz
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monstration in American history, but
also foreshadows the beginning of wide
spread popular participation in an area
of American policy formerly reserved for
top officials.
The Soviet Union, for its part, has
accepted the nuclear freeze proposition
in principle. Declining to follow suit has
subsequently put the Reagan administra
tion on the defensive once again.
Washington refuses to freeze the
number of nuclear weapons at present
levels primarily because it perceives an
unacceptable Soviet edge. More specific
ally, this edge is seen to be one which the
Soviets today would be able to forge into
one of two swords. In this analysis, Mos
cow can take advantage by either striking
first in a surprise attack or blackmailing
the United States into making interna
tional political concessions.
Although there is at present nothing
close to a unanimous agreement on the
President’s premise of U.S. inferiority,
for the sake of argument, let us suppose
In the context of the more ominous
threat of a first strike, contrary to
Washington’s prediction of Soviet be
havior, we are in fact presently not under
attack. Furthermore, in view of President
Reagan’s push to catch up, the same por
trait of Soviet thinking would imply an
extra incentive for Moscow to fire first
lest it lose the advantage. And yet, still we
are not shot at. Thus, not one to trust
Soviet good will, the logical conclusion is
that in practice the Kremlin is in fact de
terred, something the administration’s
theoretical analysis mistakingly looks
over.
On the question of blackmail, first, not
only has the U.S. maintained her tradi
tional spheres of influence intact but in
some areas its allies, with whom the Un
ited States has great influence, actually
threaten Soviet interests. All of Russia’s
missiles were unable to discourage Israel,
an American ally, from embarrassing the
PLO and Syria, both close friends of the
Soviet Union.
And secondly, ask yourself whether
our Ronald Reagan would succomb to
any sort of blackmail, today or any day. It
is unthinkagble that he would and conse
quently unlikely that the United States
has in fact suffered from effective black
mail. Ronald Reagan’s character there
fore, in part, discredits Ronald Reagan’s
policy justifications. Hence, existing
realities do not in fact reflect U.S. policy
expectations. The same expectations
used to justify another arms race, which
after all appears to be unnecessary.
by Art Buchwald
“All right. We’re going to war game it
today. Get out your pads and pencils. We
are the superpower Alpha, and the
enemy is the superpower Beta. Both
sides have enough stuff to blow each
other off the face of the Earth. What do
we do?
“We stay clear of each other as much
as we can.”
“Right. Now a mini-power named
Omega comes to us and says it wants to be
our friend. How do we show our grati
tude?
“We give the people a few weapons to
defend themselves against Beta.”
“Correct. Here is where it starts get
ting difficult. Another mini-power
named Delta comes to us and says they
also want to be our friends. What do we
do about them?”
“We give them a few weapons, too.”
“Why?”
“Because if we don’t, Beta will.”
“All right, let’s move along. We’ve sold
Omega weapons and we’ve sold Delta
weapons. What do we do next?”
“Do we sell them the better equip
ment?”
“Yes, because the more equipment we
can sell a mini-power, the cheaper it is to
build military stuff for ourselves. Also,
the more Alpha equipment they have,
the more dependent they become on us
as a supplier.”
“So politically the best way to win the
hearts and minds of people is by loading
them down with arms.”
“Everyone knows that, Professor. I
thought you said this was going to be
difficult.”
“The game isn’t over yet. Now Alpha
has supplied Omega and Delta with guns,
missiles, ships, submarines and airplanes.
We also have assured both Omega and
Delta that an attack on them would be
considered an attack on us. We, of
course, had Beta in mind when we made
these assurances. Have we done the right
thing?”
01
“Of course. The more countries we
can line up against Beta, the safer we will
be.”
“We bring their military people here to
teach them how to use them.”
“And then what happens?”
“Each side thinks we’ve sold better
weapons to the other, and demands more
powerful stuff.”
“On paper, it looks good. But now we
get to the war game problem. What hap
pens if Omega takes our equipment and
uses it to attack Delta, because they con
sider Delta a bigger threat to them than
Beta?”
“We tell Omega to desist.”
“What if they refuse?”
“We point out that according
military agreement, they wereoiilB
posed to use our equipment tod; I by H<
themselves against Beta.” t b*
“What if they tell us to stufftbti High sch<
ment because we’re a superpowtt Isharpen
no one talks that way to a superp ill 5 Monel
because if they did we could W H? ea ^ nu
off the face of the Earth.” °, rr
“But we can’t wipe them off^
the Earth, can we?” K.. ‘ n ..
I guess not. But we can cutM
from future supplies.”
“But, if we do that, Beta, Theta
will step in and fill the void,andwei
have lost a friend, and alsooneii
best customers.”
“So we have to support Omega
war against Delta?”
“Not necessarily. We don'twam
Delta to Beta either.”
“Then we have no choice butto
two mini-powers fight it outwit
equipment until one side wins?” I
“Anybody got any better ideas:' I
“Couldn’t we take it to theUniu Pv*-|
tions? They’re paid to keep peace' • 1 1c
“We could, but it wouldn’t help I
“So what’s the solution, Profess
“There is no solution. Thereist
moral. It’s no fun being a superp# |
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power, it tells you to stuff it.”
the administration is right on this point.
The next relevant question therefore is
whether the gap is realistically really wide
enough to give substance to either one of
the perceived Soviet threats. The answer
to this will determine the need to re-arm.
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Letters: Middle East gunpower
Editor:
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77843.
In the past three weeks, Lebanon has
become a battlefield where aliens wage a
war with no forseeable outcome. In the
recent editions of The Battalion, opin
ions on this war have deformed certain
facts. My purpose is to clariy them.
— An occupant remains an occupant,
whether he carries a U.S.-made M-16
rifle or a Russian-supplied AK-47.
Although Lebanese democracy left a lot
to be desired, its freedom permitted the
Palestinian Revolution to nurture on its
soil. There are now V2 million Lebanese
which are refugees in their own country.
— The PLO, by its nature as a revolu
tionary movement, threatens the stability
of the oil producing sheikdoms. It is
Israel-Lebanon
Editor:
— A lot has been said about Israel’s
Lebanese Christian “allies.” That they
are Israeli-trained and equipped is unde
niable; that they approve the indiscri
minate massacre, by Israel, of Lebanese
and Palestinian civilians is false. As a
Lebanese Christian, I neither consider
the PLO an enemy nor Israel an ally. The
PLO, by its misbehavior (to put it mildly)
has forced the Christians to turn to Israel
for support. The Christian reproofs are:
a) The PLO had formed a state within a
state denying Lebanese authorities entry
to its camps, b) The PLO’s interference in
local politics transformed an imminent
social change into an armed conflict.
— The middle Eastern conflict is one
of “a people to many and a land to less.”
Either the people is to be eliminated or a
land created. While past history has
proved that a people cannot be elimin
ated (Israel should know that), recent his
tory has shown that neither Jordan nor
Lebanon can be substituted for Palestine.
thus understandable why the Western
reaction to the invasion was mild (rela
tively speaking).
— Israel, consistent with its policy of
“accomplished facts,” has sent its soldiers
to fight the PLO commandoes. The for
mer say the Neguev is theirs (they have
made it bloom; it is fact), the latter claim
that same desert. Both pay for it with
their blood. A compromise must be
reached. But compromise is a word alien
to both sides. The war in Lebanon has
asserted one thing: today in the Middle
East, power remains where it has been
for centuries — AT THE MUZZLE OL A
CUN.
, United
AOS, f
[cess Anne,
Indian pm
of handma
gland’s ne\
oed report
puss the rc
I The pri
|Wo-day vi
Mexico wi
ive-storv
Toni M. Prince
P.O. Box 7371
Illegal aliens
I would like to share my viewedw-storyj
ing the current actions by the st# built 70
Israel and certain public responsePd occuf
actions have drawn. Israel, as wetf’ /() 0 peq]
has entered some of its neighli® A Briti;
countries for the purpose of renl m )et ^j ^
the presence of the PLO fromasp«lL re | u( ( a
distance of the Isreali border, bfeyal baby
Yassar Arafat, as we may recall, their “Becam
has sworn to destroy the state oflfte snapp
The PLO has been responsible for®to a war
erous attacks on Israeli bordertoi'to a re
addition to scattered bombings wk f f e
number of people were indeed ^ le 1
The way I see it, Israel can respo*™^ 0 ^'
one of two ways: they can P rom isd (l K Q ut p ltt ^
on their side of the border until theJ$i eeve i ess
comes to visit as they already (wearing a
Israel can do as they currently aredlthe princ
The positive side of the first option®dinary t
the whole world will like Isreal and J°lkd th
nice things to say in their menioryaW 8 ’ San h
course in history books. The tfjflj^’Aaid
side? in reference to the secondopP®A ,
Editor:
personally prefer to live and besco”
iy /-year
In regard to Bernie Lette’s article on
illegal aliens, I think you have been mis
informed.
than to be a dead martyr. I wouldals> jh e goverr
Indians
ard the;
{>erforme<
— The Palestinians are an uprooted
people. Often deceived and used as an
Arab political tool, they have turned to
armed struggle. Their reactions towards
Israel are understandable; their behavior
in Lebanon is unexcusable.
Most of the children of illegal aliens
were born in this country, therefore, they
have the same rights and privileges vou
have. All the parents of these children
take the lowest-paid jobs, which many
Americans refuse to take, and they are
not exempt from paying taxes. A great
number of them work in the fields pickin
the fruits and vegetables that you and I
eat every day.
to comment on the comparison
some of the Israelis to hitler’s Nazis:
be stupid. T he Israelis are not o« Visitor —
cleanse and improve the race by aWP ecte( 1 1
lating those of different ethnic, reli r fl ®§ a |. clres
or political backgrounds than theit® e
Israel does not round up thousand®
people and machine gun them bew s ’ s 4 nne
they are not Israelit. Where is the> doorcerei
larity? sheared I
I will not condemn Israel fordeM regalia
ing her very existence against a gomipoup of
terrorists who would gloat at herdestTpemoni;
tion.
I Her e
SUnglasse;
Luis Rodriguez
P.O. Box 7067
Stallings-Ct'l
Class oil