Martial Law and Alien races

Does anyone know what the circumstances and laws are surrounding martial law in different countries? How/when does it get implimented or what is on the books about it?

If there is ever a mass meeting with a NEW(excluding species presumably already working with gov) race of beings from outside earth, what are the current protocols in place? Is it shoot first, ask questions later?

Funny movie comes to mind "Mars Attacks"
How in the current state of world affairs do you think things would be handled? Would China or other nations immediately fire missles off deciding such as a threat?

I know currently the USAF chases smaller ones but do not know if they consider them hostile or just chase them for study when they are seeing. Taking that practice to the ground, would the Army, give chase and lock everyone up in their homes?

well i think if the USAF truly chases UFOs around and haven't gotten shot down in all these years that it's a pretty safe bet they aren't hostile.

also, i think if there were an alien race that came to visit us that it probably wouldn't be too smart to shoot first and ask questions later and the governments would realize that. it would be almost the same thing as if one side of the world were to try and destroy the other...it just wouldn't be practical and no one would win


***edited to finish my thought(i'm too quick to post sometimes




[edit on 14-10-2008 by Barathrum]

Asking about disorganized govt.

lets say a monster UFO showed up above Iraq or Iran and there was no US Military presence. What do you think they would do as this does not jive with whatever Allah told them they should be seeing.

Any race with the capability of visiting us would be so much more advanced that it's pretty much incomprehensible to us. That's what's so laughable about the idea that a race could turn up and fight us in some sort of traditional sense of war. It's really hilarious if you think about it.

a) We are of no use to them whatsoever. We have no skills, possessions or special insights to offer.

b) If they knew about us. They would maybe watch us for a while for a bit of amusement (perhaps the same way we feel about pets) and then swat us like flies from a distance. Easy.


My thoughts are that any race turning up to meet face to face would be "friendly" if not neutral in a helpful sort of way.

Originally posted by Geoff Capes
a) We are of no use to them whatsoever. We have no skills, possessions or special insights to offer.

I have to disagree there. Humans can be good cattle and good laborers

any race that could travel light years, unless they are just an evil sort...they arent going to show up and get all rowdy... Theres no point. They wouldn't need slaves, they are too expensive...robots would be better suited. They wouldn't need resources cause you could pull those out of uninhabited asteroids with less fuss than fighting or exterminating the population. And eating us? not quite..we're not nearly as populous as animals...and we don't have any more nutritional value than a cow...so thats not likely either

So i dont see a mass problem that would institute martial law..if things were bad i would think the govt would want millions of people on the street to help defend the planet as opposed to keeping them sheltered in the houses.

[edit on 14-10-2008 by midnightbrigade]