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From: tos@psc70.UUCP (Dr.Schlesinger)
Newsgroups: net.politics,net.flame
Subject: Re: We've GOT to do somethin' for Peace Dept.
Message-ID: <147@psc70.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 13-Aug-85 07:45:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: psc70.147
Posted: Tue Aug 13 07:45:53 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 18-Aug-85 20:41:46 EDT
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Organization: Plymouth State College, Plymouth, NH
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Xref: linus net.politics:9765 net.flame:10643


   The suggestion that we are soft about the destruction of innocent
life is ludicrous. I suppose we gave a damn about how many millions of
Vietnamese we butchered to avoid admitting we'd made a stupid mistake
by retrieving a former French colony under the guise of containment.
   I realize the writer means the deliberate willingness to let hostages be
destroyed. But seriously the facile assumption about the "Ruskies"
reveals the kind of white hats vs. black hats delusions on which the
Cold War feeds. The idea of the brutal Ruskies, of course, rests on
the Gulag and Stalin, and other aspects of Russian history. But our
history of the last 200 years isn't that reasuuring either... some
would say that the Union's "democratic" way opf settling the little
problem of 1861 wasn't exactly humanitarian... then comes Hiroshima
with all of its questions, and heaven knows what other humanitarian
wonders we'll yet bring to the world. 
   The Soviets/Russians seem brutal to us, but they know what
suffering and the death of millions us like... all Russian families
have suffered untold hardships. Only a handful of Americans, and not
an inch of the American mainland, have ever suffered similarly since
1865! So we shouldn't be too sure about who may be really willing to
be ruthless and brutal for their beliefs at a certain momen.