Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id RAA06484 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Sun, 10 Feb 2002 17:27:13 GMT Message-Id: <5.1.0.14.0.20020210122148.02c7fb60@pop.cogeco.ca> X-Sender: hkhenson@pop.cogeco.ca X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.1 Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 12:23:38 -0500 To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk From: Keith Henson <hkhenson@cogeco.ca> Subject: Re: Fwd: The Urge to Punish Cheats: Not Just Human, but Selfless In-Reply-To: <160D5CA0-1DCF-11D6-BA5D-003065B9A95A@harvard.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Since I mentioned this, here is a taste. Keith
STAR LAWS
[Editorial comment--It won't be long till people are living and
working in space, but existing space law makes short shrift of human
rights.]
by H. Keith Henson and Arel Lucas
With tears in his eyes, the commander of the US moon base spoke
to the woman begging for asylum.
"Sonya, my personal sympathies are with you. But I have my
authorities above me. I have to do what is required. You will have
to return to your base."
"Please!" pleaded Sonya. "They will kill me. I will not go
back."
The commander reluctantly left his office and admitted the
Russians. Dr. Gale Roberts, one of the civilian scientists at the
base, later recounted the incident to the press.
"We could here the woman's cries for help. She was on her
knees praying and crying, 'Oh God help me.' The Russians came in.
Sometimes I couldn't see her, but I could hear her screaming. Then
she ran to the upper deck. Her face was all bloody.
"She hid for a while, but three more Russians were let in.
They found her, beat her unconscious. Then they tied her in a blanket
and carried her out the airlock.
"We're not even sure they put a suit on her in the airlock,"
said Dr. Roberts. "Nobody was permitted to look.''
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Hypothetical overstatement? Not at all. Change "Sonya" to
"Simas," and moon base to Coast Guard Cutter *Vigilant*, and you have
an incident that occurred in November 1970. The US ship and a Russian
ship had met off Gays Head near Boston to discuss inspection
procedures called for by a recently signed fishing treaty. Simas
Kirdurka, a Lithuanian radio operator, who in 21 years in the Russian
merchant marine had never been allowed ashore at a foreign port, saw
his chance and jumped to the Coast Guard ship.
State Department bureaucrats who didn't want to take chances
with "delicate negotiations," and Coast Guard officials on shore who
disliked one of "their" ships being used for a defection, gave orders
that Simas be returned to his ship. A considerable amount of violence
on the US ship was required to accomplish the task. It was some time
before it was known whether Simas was alive or dead. (See *Time* or
*Newsweek,* Dec.14, 1970, if you want more details.)
(rest on Google)
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