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From: matthews@harvard.ARPA (Jim Matthews)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: Re: We need the arms race (well, not quite...)
Message-ID: <298@harvard.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 16-Jan-85 21:56:30 EST
Article-I.D.: harvard.298
Posted: Wed Jan 16 21:56:30 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 20-Jan-85 01:38:17 EST
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Organization: Aiken Computation Laboratory, Harvard
Lines: 20

> > No, but our record is pretty damn good.  Think back and figure out
> > when was the last time the world had fourty years without a major war
> > (ie a confrontation of the world powers).
> 
> But if you insist, Pax Britanica- from the end of the Napoleanic era
> until WWI. The point is that just because we have avoided global
> thermonuclear warfare so far is no reason to believe that we will
> continue to do so in the future.

Yes, the Pax Britanica was an amazing achievement, but its lessons would
disapoint today's pro-peace activists.  The Restoration peace was forged
with a mutually-recognized balance of power, and had little to do with a 
fear of war's consequences.  The best treatment of this period can be found
in A World Restored, by Henry Kissinger, where he emphasizes that those who
frantically seek peace most rarely find it.  A steady balance of power,
with arms races if necessary, remains the best strategy for avoiding war.

				Jim Matthews
				matthews@harvard