From: Xela@yabbs
To: maedhros@yabbs
Subject: Hmm...
Date: Tue Jan 25 11:58:03 1994

1. Safe on the streets?
    You may feel safe on a dark poorly lit street, but I'm not sure that 
that is the norm for the rest of society.  I'm probably speaking way out 
of line here, but I just don't see average folks like myself wanting to 
get mugged, robbed, etc.  Nor do I see the Armed Forces as a whole, with 
the amount of money spent, as a deterrant to street crime.

2. The future nature of war.
    My point in relating the miliary machine to domestic problems is this: 
Outside threats will matter less as the military downsizes.  A Marine 
officer, who wrote an article on the four types of future "warriors,"  
noted that outside *military* threats can be handled by a smalled US 
military, but that economic warfare (say with the Japanese in the future), 
or civil warfare (with the more radical psectors of society) will cause  a 
problem to the military.  It simply isn't capable of dealing
with antagonistic forces from the inside, especially if a civil conflict 
ever upscaled to a guerilla-style war.
    As to the Marines dealing with a riot, a riot is simple violence 
controlled by a mob mentality.  A civil war would take on a different 
flavor, I think.

3. The Armed Forces as humanitarian fighters.
    All I can say on this matter is that the Armed Forces are not trained 
to buil, but are more qualified on the art of
 government-sponsored killing. (on = in, sorry)  

4. The future dominance of America as a military power?
    I believe it is unlikely.  R&D would be useless without the means to 
build the weapon at hand.  As technology grows more and more computerized, 
the US is dependent upon Japan and the other Pacific Rim nations for the 
technical components which make up state-of-the-art weaponry.  God help 
this country if it ever got into a war with an Asian country. 
    I read this book by Akio Morita and another gentlemen whose name 
escapes me at the moment called _A Japan that can Say No_.  Apparently, 
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has developed a fighter which can outmanuever 
anything which theAmericans could throw at them.

-Alex