Cubas Offer To Send 1,500 Doctors

[Al Kufr]

All the leftist are screaming about the Bush administration not responding to Cstros offer to send these doctors, of course.

I know that this is a prapaganda victory for Cuba wheather or not we accept the offer,thats why I think Castro made the offer to start with, but should the U.S. accept those doctors?

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/09/...cuba/index.html

[softwareNerd]

Let them come, ask them who wants asylum. The rest can return.

[Praxus]

Let them come, ask them who wants asylum. The rest can return.

The last sentence was unnecessary, it seems quite obvious none would return;)

Edited September 7, 2005 by Praxus

[softwareNerd]

Actually, many would return... because they'd would have friends and family under the control of the Cuban government. They are held hostage by the things they love.

[tommyedison]

Let them come, ask them who wants asylum. The rest can return.

Many of them could be spies. For e.g. to enter corporations and smuggle their technology to Cuba, become a part of the Cuban-American Society and try and harm their interests etc.

One can't compromise national security even if it means restricting immigration or asylum.

Edited September 8, 2005 by tommyedison

[Unconquered]

Many of them could be spies. For e.g. to enter corporations and smuggle their technology to Cuba, become a part of the Cuban-American Society and try and harm their interests etc.

One can't compromise national security even if it means restricting immigration or asylum.

Do you really think that America's porous borders don't already physically permit the entrance of anyone with a glimmer of intelligence (much less smarter than usual)? Anybody with nefarious intentions towards the U.S. can get in very easily. All that immigration restrictions do is keep out the decent, hard-working people who want a better life, including a goodly number of extraordinarily intelligent non-American Objectivists who have been kept out or had to worry for years because of an utterly asinine anti-immigration policy. Every single person in this country except American Indians had immigrant ancestors not that long ago.

[scottkursk]

Every single person in this country except American Indians had immigrant ancestors not that long ago.

Actually they had immigrant ancestors to except they walked here via the Bering Strait instead of coming by boat in the 1600's like my ancestors did. It's just a matter of timing.

Plus you are right about the first part of your post. Specifically Cuba had one of its greatest spies fly a Mig into the US and was a hero to the expat community here before returning a hero of the revolution because of the spying. And there was the guy that was spying on Intel for the Cuban government and he was a US citizen if I remember correctly. Actually, as far as spies go, the Rosenbergs were US citizens as was the guy that worked on the Trinity Project that fed them secrets. Even our allies Israel paid US citizens like Pollard to spy on us.

So when it comes to worrying about spies, there are just as many US citizens and allies that will do it as there are enemies.

Edited September 8, 2005 by scottkursk

[tommyedison]

Do you really think that America's porous borders don't already physically permit the entrance of anyone with a glimmer of intelligence (much less smarter than usual)? Anybody with nefarious intentions towards the U.S. can get in very easily.

Many nefarious intelligent people can get in, it is very true but many cannot. But if borders are left completely unprotected, the situation would become much more dangerous. Imagine al-Qaeda smuggling in nukes into the United States!

All that immigration restrictions do is keep out the decent, hard-working people who want a better life, including a goodly number of extraordinarily intelligent non-American Objectivists who have been kept out or had to worry for years because of an utterly asinine anti-immigration policy.

That is why I support an unlimited no. of H1B visas along with a strict patrolling of borders.

[Unconquered]

Actually they had immigrant ancestors to except they walked here via the Bering Strait instead of coming by boat in the 1600's like my ancestors did. It's just a matter of timing.

Of course, but I did deliberately have the proviso "not that long ago". 40,000 years +/- is a ways back ...

[Unconquered]

Many nefarious intelligent people can get in, it is very true but many cannot. But if borders are left completely unprotected, the situation would become much more dangerous. Imagine al-Qaeda smuggling in nukes into the United States!

That is why I support an unlimited no. of H1B visas along with a strict patrolling of borders.

Sorry but you are very naive about the ease by which it's possible to get into this country, and no amount of "strict patrolling" is going to handle the 12,108 miles of coastline/land borders of this country! Not without becoming a massive police state on the order of Soviet Russia anyway.

There are an estimated 12 *million* illegal Mexicans (who in my view should not be illegal unless they committed some crime, and apparently working at crappy jobs for an honest living counts as a crime in D.C.) in this country who got in by very low tech means and again, it is extraordinarily naive to think that a nuclear weapon could not be trivially easily smuggled into the country, either by Mexico, Canada, or thousands of miles of coastline. The "War on Drugs" is completely incapable of stopping the shipment of many thousands of tons of drugs over the borders, and a nuke is not that large, especially if the design is sophisticated. The fissionable material itself could be readily carried by a single individual even in an unsophisticated design.

[scottkursk]

Of course, but I did deliberately have the proviso "not that long ago". 40,000 years +/- is a ways back ...

Let's see, which smiley face is the one with egg on it. Hey, when you get back to basics aren't we all Gondwanalanders ? <removing tounge from cheek>

[scottkursk]

Sorry but you are very naive about the ease by which it's possible to get into this country, and no amount of "strict patrolling" is going to handle the 12,108 miles of coastline/land borders of this country! Not without becoming a massive police state on the order of Soviet Russia anyway.

There are an estimated 12 *million* illegal Mexicans (who in my view should not be illegal unless they committed some crime, and apparently working at crappy jobs for an honest living counts as a crime in D.C.) in this country who got in by very low tech means and again, it is extraordinarily naive to think that a nuclear weapon could not be trivially easily smuggled into the country, either by Mexico, Canada, or thousands of miles of coastline.

So basically you're saying "prohibition doesn't work." Whether it is rum, cocaine, or day laborers, there will always be a flow of goods to meet a need. I agree. Though I will say that it does serve the proper police function of government to somehow screen immigrants. Though as it currently stands, the INS is probably the worst run and ugliest burecracy the US government currently has. Yes there is a slippery slope there but there has to be some policing to keep out dangerous people. It's for the same reason El Al screens passengers before they board. And compare their record of security to other airlines.

The "War on Drugs" is completely incapable of stopping the shipment of many thousands of tons of drugs over the borders, and a nuke is not that large, especially if the design is sophisticated. The fissionable material itself could be readily carried by a single individual even in an unsophisticated design.   

And when it comes to fissionable material, you really don't need to smuggle it. It is just a matter of dollars and knowledge. The hard part is finding people with the knowledge and skills to build a proper bomb. Give the motivated person enough money and some good timing and they got nukes. The whole smuggling idea just makes it easier to get the device in. It's the same reason they produce and smuggle tons of cocaine. They could do it domestically but it just happens to be easier to offshore production. Marijuana used to be smuggled but domestic production is second only to corn in value so there really isn't a need to smuggle the stuff compared to the alternatives. Any moron could build a dirty bomb at this point. It's the big kaboom that is going to take time.

[Unconquered]

The hard part is finding people with the knowledge and skills to build a proper bomb. Give the motivated person enough money and some good timing and they got nukes. The whole smuggling idea just makes it easier to get the device in. It's the same reason they produce and smuggle tons of cocaine. They could do it domestically but it just happens to be easier to offshore production. Marijuana used to be smuggled but domestic production is second only to corn in value so there really isn't a need to smuggle the stuff compared to the alternatives. Any moron could build a dirty bomb at this point. It's the big kaboom that is going to take time.

I suppose (and hope) that it's relatively hard for an Al Qaeda, but given the open knowledge that exists, modern computational power, and modern machining equipment, it would take 1 good PhD in nuclear physics + the fissionable material + $$ to make a working nuke. A U-235 bomb is actually ridiculously simple to make, as evidenced by the design of the Hiroshima bomb, which pretty much just shot two sub-critical masses of U-235 together with explosive charges inside of a heavy metal tube, forming the critical mass that caused the nuclear explosion. It's tougher to make a Plutonium based bomb because it fissions much more rapidly than U-235 and has to be precisely contained (via symmetrically arranged high explosives around a sphere of Pu-239 to implode it, with a neutron initiator in the center of the sphere.)

I am far more concerned about biowarfare, personally. One nuke would cause terrible but recoverable damage. A bad enough virus could rapidly end all of civilization.

[scottkursk]

 

I suppose (and hope) that it's relatively hard for an Al Qaeda, but given the open knowledge that exists, modern computational power, and modern machining equipment, it would take 1 good PhD in nuclear physics + the fissionable material + $$ to make a working nuke. A U-235 bomb is actually ridiculously simple to make, as evidenced by the design of the Hiroshima bomb, which pretty much just shot two sub-critical masses of U-235 together with explosive charges inside of a heavy metal tube, forming the critical mass that caused the nuclear explosion.

You're right, the concept is now mind numbingly simple and straightforward. It's the kind of thing we look back on now and say "wy didn't someone think of it earlier. The thing is though, the concept behind variable valve timing in a modern cars engine is actually equally straightforward but the actually technical ability to go and build one is not easy. The government actually monitors sales of alot of precious metals that would be helpful in building a nuke as well as other things. Not that I sleep a great deal easier knowing that.

 

 

I am far more concerned about biowarfare, personally. One nuke would cause terrible but recoverable damage. A bad enough virus could rapidly end all of civilization. 

 

Spookily enough you are right. A nuke is all flash, no pun intended. It will scare people but experience tells us the effected area will recover in relatively short order. Now someone releasing smallpox or any other number of nasty bugs, that is one of those end of all life on the planet sort of affairs. Though I think in the long run Katrina and New Orleans can serve as a good dry run for something very ugly like that happening.