Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (36656)	8/9/2002 3:19:37 PM
From: Spytrdr	Respond to of 281500

hello, that's what middlemen are for. you won't find Jiang Zemin with invoices shaking hands with OBL ___ <<If Al Qaeda does obtain surface-to-air missiles from China, I would consider that to be precisely a declaration of war.>>

To: Ilaine who wrote (36656)	8/9/2002 9:22:57 PM
From: Bilow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Hi CobaltBlue; Re: "Selling arms to our enemies may seem like an excellent idea to them, but I consider it tantamount to a declaration of war." That's an awful big chip to be carrying around on your shoulder. What do you think would happen if the other side carried around a similar sized chip? I think we'd have continuous "tantamount to a declaration of war", whatever the hell that is. If every nation in the planet's history had had that policy there would never have been a single country at peace at any time. Your policy fails the test of "do unto others". It doesn't work. Nor has the US ever followed it. That's why we didn't nuke the Russians when they sold weapons to (put names of countries making up 1/3 of the world here). That's why the Russians didn't nuke us when we sold weapons to (put names of countries making up a different 1/3 of the world here). That's not a policy that has ever been successfully executed by any country, even the ones that were full blown superpower empires, except in very limited circumstances. Even the Roman empire couldn't stop the Persians from selling bows to the (fill in name of 1/3 of non Roman empire Mediterranean or Middle East region here), except in times of war. Humans resist that sort of trade restriction. Humans are natural traders. Weapons are natural trade articles, maybe the first thing that ever got traded in the history of the species. -- Carl