At 06:34 PM 8/31/01 +0200 J. van Baardwijk wrote:
>It was also the consensus of the experts that the Soviet Union would not
>fall, and that Iraq would not invade Kuwait...
>
>I must agree with Doug here. If you want to use the possible possesion of
>nuclear arms by any country as a reason for backing out of the ABM Treaty,
>you must first supply proof that said country actually *does* have nuclear
>weapons. The "consensus of foreign policy experts" does not qualify as
>proof -- especially given their less-than-stellar track record (see above).
Fine. There is no truth. Whatever we know about other countries could be
true, but since we've been wrong before, it could also be wrong.
Maybe Iraq *already* has ICBMs? After all, we've been wrong before.
Maybe NMD will only cost $2. After all, we've been wrong before.
In fact, maybe DPRK already has a nuclear bomb, and in fact, maybe
Anchorage is already an irradiated crater? After all, we've been wrong
before.
In fact, Jeroen, how do we know anything? Can you prove to me that
Anchorage hasn't been nuked already, and our foreign policy experts just
missed it?
>It most certainly does not! If we allow this, the road is wide open for
>every country to use any possible future event as a reason to arm
>themselves to the teeth. The result: another arms race, another Cold War,
>more chances of some idiot government getting so pissed at their neighbours
>that they hit the <Launch> button. Not something I look forward to.
Actually, that road is already open.
In the end, there is not one damn thing you, or the Netherlands, or anybody
else can do to keep us from trying to build a NMD.
Please, Jeroen, lets keep this discussion grounded in reality.
Then again, you seem to think that Saddam Hussein has a right to build
nuclear weapons because the United Nations kicked him out of Kuwait, so I'm
guessing that reality is not your strong suit. Not surprising for someone
who just argued that foreign policy experts really don't know anything
about other countries.
JDG
__________________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
We are products of the same history, reaching from Jerusalem and
Athens to Warsaw and Washington. We share more than an alliance.
We share a civilization. - George W. Bush, Warsaw, 06/15/01
