fissionable sauce for geese, ganders

Post #218,997 by rcareaga 8/12/05 10:07:02 AM Reply	fissionable sauce for geese, ganders Another_Scott, in the course of his two cents worth (an exceptionally precise and accurate appraisal, BTW), loftily observes that Yes, the rules are different for the bomb-holding powers that drew up the NPT and offered nuclear power to others under nonproliferation conditions. Them's the breaks. Life's like that sometimes. And are you aware of this country's notional obligations under the NPT and how well we've complied with them? No and no? I thought not. What you're really saying, to paraphrase Leona Helmsley, is that treaty obligations are for little people. The Iranians have observed that the junta here is treating North Korea very gingerly. They know that were it not that Iraq has lodged in our throat, this regime would be preparing to devour Persia as a second course, an undertaking that would likely garner few confederates, notwithsatnding philbot's vivid and comical hallucination of abolishing the UN and replacing it with "a treaty organization of democracies, acting to protect and extend freedom and human rights throughout the world, by whatever means avail" (if we must invade, ah, liberate the place, can we at least name the enterprise something snappier than "Operation Iranian Freedom"? I'm thinking "Clusterfuck II: The Heretic"). Iran has drawn the rational conclusion that a known bully and coward will be most reluctant to assault a nation with the means to make an attack very, very costly. cordially, Die Welt ist alles, was der Fall ist.
Post #219,009 by Another Scott 8/12/05 11:16:51 AM Reply	Thanks. I think. :-) Yes, I'm aware that under the NPT and various other treaties we're under obligations to eliminate our nuclear weapons. The preamble to the [link\|http://www.fas.org/nuke/control/npt/text/npt2.htm\|NPT] says: Declaring their intention to achieve at the earliest possible date the cessation of the nuclear arms race and to undertake effective measures in the direction of nuclear disarmament, While it's a noble goal, the text there is a bit nebulous as to what needs to be done and when. Iran has drawn the rational conclusion that a known bully and coward will be most reluctant to assault a nation with the means to make an attack very, very costly. There's no doubt that that's part of their calculus. And there is a logic to it if one doesn't want to work with the existing world order. (They'd advance a lot further a lot faster if they cooperated with the West more, IMO.) However, remember that North Korea and Pakistan and Iran started their nuclear activity long before GWB was in office. Iran's apparently had a covert nuclear program [link\|http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2003_11/Shaffer.asp\|since the early 1970's] - one that continued after the Shah's demise. [Begin tongue-in-cheek:] Given that, we yet again see that it's all Jimmy Carter's fault. [image\|/forums/images/warning.png\|0\|This is sarcasm...] Cheers, Scott.
Post #219,073 by Ashton 8/12/05 3:52:46 PM Reply	{Chortle type=All-on-the-same-page -?-}____finally OK, it IS a Dance, duelling surds and triple-entendres and thinly-veiled lies and puffery: all around. SNAFU for 'diplomacy' in white gloves. Over green-flocked tables. That Dance is about the totally-inept-at-mouthnoises: in "our corner" --VS-- (pretty substantially?) The. World. Hubris aside (and for US, in '05 - I deem that an Oxy-oxymoron) Short-of Our launching a spasm war [Rand Corp. '50s def'n] as precipitate response to say, the first detonation on US Fatherland soil? (Though assuredly these days, precipitate-R-US) Do we really imagine that Our Military tactics, equipment, fodder, transistors, , , shall cow the Entire Planet (for more than a few months, say?) Rhetorical question, sorry. little-Jesus evidently Believes precisely that. (And Oh - does our smirking-fellow Believe when he believes stuff) Rest case; taking bets: The Antsy Armageddon Boys <VS> the Can We All just get-over this Duelling-Gods-stuff? That Dance is looking a lot like a Totentanz, to those of us who kept up with the analyses of war-games of that First think-tank (that Other Rand - a Corporation - how Very apropos) Gawd I miss irony. Miss also people who remember, intimately, what fission/fusion Is Like. You. Decide. Mr. Muricanpeepul Personified (We'll bury the bodies.) If we can. If we can find many parts. And if we feel up to it. At 500 R/hr on the ion chamber. With all those cells leaking all fluids internally. I recall reading an internal report about an 'incident' whereby a Pu-enriched solution was permitted to overflow where it Wasn't supposed-to: into another tank with Pu-material. A n-Second Criticality occurred. Calculations were that this poor sod got ~ 10,000 REMs. 500 total-body will do it. Slower. I omit the horrifying description of How.. it was, he died, and just say: agonizingly.

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