Comments on: BBC radio interview http://www.peterdsmith.com/archives/2007/07/19/bbc-radio-interview/ Kafka’s mouse Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:51:13 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Peter Cowlam http://www.peterdsmith.com/archives/2007/07/19/bbc-radio-interview/comment-page-1/#comment-50 Peter Cowlam Tue, 24 Jul 2007 07:58:15 +0000 http://www.peterdsmith.com/archives/2007/07/19/bbc-radio-interview/#comment-50 The problem with international treaties is that it takes only one signatory to suspect that one or more others are cheating, and cheating becomes manifest and proliferates. It's a question less of innate human wickedness than innate human mistrust. This is one consequence, I think, of a world divided by borders, ethnicity, Otherness. The problem with international treaties is that it takes only one signatory to suspect that one or more others are cheating, and cheating becomes manifest and proliferates. It's a question less of innate human wickedness than innate human mistrust. This is one consequence, I think, of a world divided by borders, ethnicity, Otherness.

]]> By: PD Smith http://www.peterdsmith.com/archives/2007/07/19/bbc-radio-interview/comment-page-1/#comment-49 PD Smith Mon, 23 Jul 2007 18:59:49 +0000 http://www.peterdsmith.com/archives/2007/07/19/bbc-radio-interview/#comment-49 Good to hear from you Peter. Until recently I assumed that there was a consensus that these weapons - like chemical and biological ones - should be controlled by treaty and then banned. But now it seems new ones are being developed, even by our own country! That's rather depressing. It seems to me that if we learnt anything from the cold war it was that we won't find answers to the world's problems in weapons of mass destruction. I'd be interested to know what you think though... Good to hear from you Peter.

Until recently I assumed that there was a consensus that these weapons - like chemical and biological ones - should be controlled by treaty and then banned. But now it seems new ones are being developed, even by our own country! That's rather depressing. It seems to me that if we learnt anything from the cold war it was that we won't find answers to the world's problems in weapons of mass destruction.

I'd be interested to know what you think though...

]]> By: Peter Cowlam http://www.peterdsmith.com/archives/2007/07/19/bbc-radio-interview/comment-page-1/#comment-48 Peter Cowlam Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:22:52 +0000 http://www.peterdsmith.com/archives/2007/07/19/bbc-radio-interview/#comment-48 You say nuclear weapons are obscene (and I agree), and you would like to see them abolished (and I sympathise), but isn't it the case that the genie is out of the bottle and we're stuck with them? You say nuclear weapons are obscene (and I agree), and you would like to see them abolished (and I sympathise), but isn't it the case that the genie is out of the bottle and we're stuck with them?

]]> By: PD Smith http://www.peterdsmith.com/archives/2007/07/19/bbc-radio-interview/comment-page-1/#comment-47 PD Smith Fri, 20 Jul 2007 08:31:51 +0000 http://www.peterdsmith.com/archives/2007/07/19/bbc-radio-interview/#comment-47 Thanks Shannon. Yes, I talk about "fear" in my book. Do you know Cecil Day-Lewis's poem "Bombers" (1938)? He describes the bombs in their bomb bays as "the iron-embryo conceived in fear"... Thanks Shannon. Yes, I talk about "fear" in my book. Do you know Cecil Day-Lewis's poem "Bombers" (1938)? He describes the bombs in their bomb bays as "the iron-embryo conceived in fear"...

]]> By: shannon http://www.peterdsmith.com/archives/2007/07/19/bbc-radio-interview/comment-page-1/#comment-46 shannon Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:21:14 +0000 http://www.peterdsmith.com/archives/2007/07/19/bbc-radio-interview/#comment-46 Great interview, Peter! Some good points you have about our current societies not understanding the real threat of "doomsday devices" because we haven't experienced the fear of them first hand. I'd have to answer the last question with simply "fear". That is what we should be afraid of now. Fear is the thing that makes us wall ourselves off from each other, and fear is the thing that makes us keep building bigger weapons to protect ourselves from each other. Isn't it ironic that security is the very thing that fear takes away? Great interview, Peter! Some good points you have about our current societies not understanding the real threat of "doomsday devices" because we haven't experienced the fear of them first hand. I'd have to answer the last question with simply "fear". That is what we should be afraid of now. Fear is the thing that makes us wall ourselves off from each other, and fear is the thing that makes us keep building bigger weapons to protect ourselves from each other. Isn't it ironic that security is the very thing that fear takes away?

]]> By: PD Smith http://www.peterdsmith.com/archives/2007/07/19/bbc-radio-interview/comment-page-1/#comment-45 PD Smith Thu, 19 Jul 2007 15:56:10 +0000 http://www.peterdsmith.com/archives/2007/07/19/bbc-radio-interview/#comment-45 Glad you liked it... Glad you liked it...

]]> By: Alan Summers http://www.peterdsmith.com/archives/2007/07/19/bbc-radio-interview/comment-page-1/#comment-43 Alan Summers Thu, 19 Jul 2007 14:15:34 +0000 http://www.peterdsmith.com/archives/2007/07/19/bbc-radio-interview/#comment-43 Good interview! Good interview!

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