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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials
AMAT 341.36+1.3%3:59 PM EST

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To: Michael Ohlendorf who wrote (19727)5/28/1998 11:36:00 AM
From: Jacob Snyder  Read Replies (1) of 70976
 
OT, mostly, re: "of course!"

Non-proliferation is dead. Actually, it was a policy only selectively applied. It was only our enemies who weren't supposed to get The Bomb. Our friends (Britain, France, Israel) were helped to acquire the materials, technology, and means to deliver them on target. India and Pakistan won't get more than a slap on the wrist for this. There are 6-10 other countries who have a capability (or could develop it in less than 24 months if they wanted to) to make Bombs. Now, they have permission to join the club, especially those small countries who face a real military threat that would be difficult or impossible to stop using conventional means.

In particular, two countries with the means and a strong incentive are Taiwan and S. Korea. Think about it: N.Korea and China have been threatening for 40 years to invade S.Korea and Taiwan. Everyone knows those threats are not idle. Governments with economic problems frequently resort to nationalistic saber-rattling to distract the citizenry. Since the end of the cold war, East Asia has competed mainly in the economic arena. But, in the long run of history, most competition between nations has been carried out militarily.

The results for a world economy, and the semi-equip industry, would be drastic. Capital would flow out of East Asia, trade would decrease, investment would be directed to other areas (out of the chip industry).

I'm not saying it's going to happen, but it could. This is exactly the kind of unanticipated external shock that could send AMAT to 13.

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