ExoPoliticians Say Government Must Start Planning for Alien Visits

(April 28) -- Famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking isn't the only man concerned about the potential ramifications of an extraterrestrial presence on Earth.

Turns out, a growing number of people are becoming involved in "exopolitics," the study of the political ramifications of alien visitors -- whether they be friend or foe -- and how humans should prepare for either scenario.

Take Michael Salla, an international politics scholar who in 2001 started dedicating his time to exopolitics. Since then, Salla, an expert in conflict resolution, has been lobbying for extra transparency from the government regarding extraterrestrials.

He says that it's imperative for the planet to have a plan just in case an E.T. decides to make Earth his new home.

"It's not necessary to assume E.T.s are real, just possible," Salla said. "Then you prepare for it and think through all the issues."

According to Salla, those issues include deciding how the alien presence will be announced (he advocates announcing the presence of microbes and working up to more sentient beings), and who will be in control -- a secret committee or a corporate entity.

Even more important: If the E.T.s have superior technology, should they be forced to share it?

Of course, another big issue is determining the protocol for contact between humans and aliens, lest either side be exposed to strange viruses, a Romeo and Juliet situation between Martians and Earthlings -- or worse.

"A big question is how will humans interact with aliens," Salla said. "If someone is threatened by one, will they take a shot at them while driving by? And, if so, will this be as illegal as shooting a human?"

Luckily, for Salla and the others in this pioneering form of paranormal political science, they aren't the only ones asking these questions.

"In the last six months, both the Vatican and the Royal Society of London have held astrobiological conferences studying the implications of life found on other worlds," he said.

Exopolitician Alfred Webre is confident that an alien discovery would have a major earthly impact. He believes that the politician or head of state who announces an encounter with an E.T. will have an incredible amount of political capital internationally.

No wonder, he says, that many UFOlogists believe that JFK planned to make such an announcement before his 1963 assassination.



However, Webre also admits that if, say, President Barack Obama were to make such an announcement, it could likely fall prey to the partisan battles that have plagued other big issues such as the economy, immigration reform and health care.

"There have been rumors that Obama might make such an announcement, but there have been so many immediate crises that what might be a political slam dunk hasn't taken place," said Webre, who recently shocked the world by claiming that both the U.S. and Russia have developed electromagnetic weapons that can trigger earthquakes.

Webre concedes that while being the person who announces the real presence of alien life will make history, it's possible that E.T.s might not want to put their eggs in one basket, politically speaking, since they wouldn't want to give the appearance of favoring one nation over another.

"Exopolitician" Alfred Webre says the United States and United Nations need to plan how to deal with extraterrestrials that may land on our planet.

If and when aliens "do surface, the thought is that they'd do it through a neutral party such as the United Nations," Webre said.

Other exopoliticians, like political activist Stephen Bassett, believe that the governments of the world -- especially the United States -- don't want to give such a momentous announcement to the U.N.

Bassett, a registered lobbyist who wants Congress to release information about the presence of aliens, says any announcement made about E.T.s -- at least in the U.S. -- is only likely to happen with the express cooperation of U.S. military intelligence.

"Barack Obama won't say he wants to reveal the truth; the military will come to him and say, 'You're the guy,'" Bassett said. "Then there would be a substantial press conference with all the evidence anyone could want that proves the presence is real."

And he says that announcement would come quickly.

Registered lobbyist Stephen Bassett says once a world leader like Barack Obama decides to announce the presence of E.T.s, he will move quickly to prevent the possibility of a leak.

"You can't have a leak 20 days in advance," Bassett said. "You don't float trial balloons. You make the decision and you move quickly."

Bassett, who is organizing the X-Conference 2010, an exopolitical gathering May 7 to 9 in Washington, D.C., says that after a nation makes the initial announcement, others would promptly follow. But he admits, "This is a transcendent issue. Whatever country makes the announcement will get most of the historical attention."

Although Bassett believes any such announcement would be made by one nation, Webre says he and other exopoliticians have been talking with members of the U.N. General Assembly regarding U.N. Resolution 33/426, which is a proposal to set up a Department of Extraterrestrials Affairs.

He is more confident of this happening than Salla.

"There has been a 60-year period where any information that the governments of the world may have has not been shared with the public," he said. "Whatever is decided, it needs to be done with transparency and accountability. It's important to share such information with U.N. and U.S. office holders."

Of course, a lot has changed in that 60-year period. Webre says that in 1961, studies indicated that a sudden announcement of an alien presence would scare people and cause psychological distress and panics, like the one that surrounded Orson Welles' 1938 "War of the Worlds" hoax.

"A more recent study showed that 85 percent view an announcement about aliens on Earth as something positive," he said.

However, Webre may get some argument from Hawking, who is still pessimistic about trying to make friends with an alien species.

"If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans," he said while promoting his new Discovery Channel series "Into the Universe With Stephen Hawking."

But Salla says the extreme divide between cynics like Hawking and optimists like the Vatican, which has declared that God may have created theologically minded beings on other planets besides Earth, is OK, just as long as the debate is happening.

"While one can heartily disagree with Hawking's public policy recommendation of ignoring intelligent alien life, he is to be congratulated for elevating exopolitical study as a 'perfectly rational' discussion," Salla said.

Source: http://www.aolnews.com/weird-news/article/exopoliticians-say-governments-must-start-planning-for-alien-visits/19456520