The Blowhard
03-09-2002, 11:51 AM
A friend sent this to me:
Everyone knows that a nuclear weapon has to be pointed somewhere. It's one of the realities you try not to think about during the average day - whether you're a street cleaner or a world government. So the story published in today's L.A. Times presents an interesting problem in world diplomacy - and by "interesting," I mean "extremely alarming." The story says that the Bush administration has commissioned specfic new plans on how to use nuclear weapons against seven nations. Call it the Axis plus four - China, Russia, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya and, of course, North Korea.
The report also said the Pentagon has been directed to start building "tactical nukes," small nuclear weapons intended for use in battlefield situations - and that's a "first strike" option, one of a couple first strike scenarios outlined in the Pentagon's playbook. This is about the United States using nuclear weapons for purposes other than "deterrence" or retaliation.
"This is dynamite," said a nuclear arms expert interviewed by the Times. And indeed, it is. Everybody knows the nukes are pointed at someone; we don't talk about it because you can't talk about it usefully. It's a no-win discussion, and it is best kept out of sight. The specific naming of nations - in addition to the terrifying notion that this administration is examining tactical nuclear strikes - gives this story the potential to really, uh, blow up.
The development also potentially represents strike three in our relationship with China, after the spy plane incident and our bugging of their presidential jet, both in the last year. We entered the Dubya administration on a decent footing with China, the world's largest nuclear superpower. George Bush Sr. oversaw the dismantling of the Cold War, but Dub seems determined to revive every single one of our old global emnities and create a few new ones in the process.
I was born and raised under the shadow of instant global nuclear destruction, under the constant threat of fire from the sky, an apocalypse which could be unleashed at any moment. I don't want to die under that shadow, returned there by a thoughtless fool whose reckless words and careless acts have unraveled the stability of the world in a mere 15 months. It will be a pathetic coda to our civilization if the first shot of Armageddon is fired by such a small, small man. This is the way the world ends - with a bang and a whimper.
<img src=http://www.ltrooster.homestead.com/files/hoodsAnimation.gif>
"If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead"
Everyone knows that a nuclear weapon has to be pointed somewhere. It's one of the realities you try not to think about during the average day - whether you're a street cleaner or a world government. So the story published in today's L.A. Times presents an interesting problem in world diplomacy - and by "interesting," I mean "extremely alarming." The story says that the Bush administration has commissioned specfic new plans on how to use nuclear weapons against seven nations. Call it the Axis plus four - China, Russia, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya and, of course, North Korea.
The report also said the Pentagon has been directed to start building "tactical nukes," small nuclear weapons intended for use in battlefield situations - and that's a "first strike" option, one of a couple first strike scenarios outlined in the Pentagon's playbook. This is about the United States using nuclear weapons for purposes other than "deterrence" or retaliation.
"This is dynamite," said a nuclear arms expert interviewed by the Times. And indeed, it is. Everybody knows the nukes are pointed at someone; we don't talk about it because you can't talk about it usefully. It's a no-win discussion, and it is best kept out of sight. The specific naming of nations - in addition to the terrifying notion that this administration is examining tactical nuclear strikes - gives this story the potential to really, uh, blow up.
The development also potentially represents strike three in our relationship with China, after the spy plane incident and our bugging of their presidential jet, both in the last year. We entered the Dubya administration on a decent footing with China, the world's largest nuclear superpower. George Bush Sr. oversaw the dismantling of the Cold War, but Dub seems determined to revive every single one of our old global emnities and create a few new ones in the process.
I was born and raised under the shadow of instant global nuclear destruction, under the constant threat of fire from the sky, an apocalypse which could be unleashed at any moment. I don't want to die under that shadow, returned there by a thoughtless fool whose reckless words and careless acts have unraveled the stability of the world in a mere 15 months. It will be a pathetic coda to our civilization if the first shot of Armageddon is fired by such a small, small man. This is the way the world ends - with a bang and a whimper.
<img src=http://www.ltrooster.homestead.com/files/hoodsAnimation.gif>
"If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead"