The news of the day was Syria and we did get to it, but only after a surprisingly long discussion the loss of jobs to automation. Tim brought up the topic and referenced a 60 minutes story aired yesterday. We have discussed this topic before; here is an earlier blog featuring a TED talk given by Andre McAfee, who is also in the 60 Minutes story.
It is to the credit of the group that we paid attention to a story that will have a longer impact than yet another war in the Middle East. And we were talking about before the 60 Minutes.
I just heard Sec. Kerry state that Pres. Assad was willing to discuss turning over control of chemical weapons because of the US threat of overwhelming force. It may be true but it's hardly diplomatic. Second Kerry wants to be sure that we have every single component, bottle, vat, package, and chemical tipped armament included in the stockpile.
ReplyDeleteThat may be an impossible requirement. What if the number of chemical weapons was exaggerated to dissuade Iran's enemies (Israel, AlQuaeda, etc). To his regret Saddam let other countries, including the US, believe he had WMD. I wonder if any country that is perceived to have WMD will be willing to come clean. Finally, does it matter who controls the chemical weapons if they are never used again?
I should have said Syria rather than Iran.
ReplyDeleteIt does matter where the chemical weapons are held, because Syria may loose control if their regime topples. I think that the treat of chemical weapons falling into the wrong hands was the reason why Russia initiated this plan.
ReplyDeleteThe minute chemical or other WMD are used against civilians, or anyone else, they are in the wrong hands. If the weapons are not used aren't they in the right hands?
ReplyDeleteFor Russia, the wrong hands would be their own terrorist groups. As long as Syria controls its chemical stockpiles, and Russia controls Syria, Russia will be safe. As the situation deteriorates, Syria may loose control of its chemical weapons and they may become available to various terrorist groups, which threatens all nations including Russia.
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