Asia Times Online

Letters

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Please note: This Letters page is intended primarily for readers to comment on ATol articles or related issues. It should not be used as a forum for readers to debate with each other. The Edge is the place for that. The editors do not mind publishing one or two responses to a reader's letter, but will, at their discretion, direct debaters away from the Letters page.

August 2008

[Re The last act for Thailand's PAD, Aug 29] To Shawn Crispin: You know what? I think you're the only Western editor who really understand what's going on in Thailand right now. Not CNN, not Reuters, it's you. In many delicate issues such as monarchy etc, you're dead on. I really enjoy your articles. Keep up the good work!
Panoat (Aug 29, '08)

[Re The last act for Thailand's PAD, Aug 29] Hello Shawn [Crispin]. Thank you for your excellent and clear presentation on the situation in Bangkok with the PAD [People's Alliance for Democracy] situation. As a farang (Western foreigner) in Thailand all summer, I tried very hard to grasp the complexity of the situation in a country that to me was so beautiful, peaceful, and enchanting. Your reporting has helped my understanding greatly and I thank you!
Tim Conner
Florida, USA (Aug 29, '08)

[Re China's excess liquidity trap, Aug 29] China is awash in more liquidity than the country knows what to do with? Well, that giant sucking sound heard across the Pacific Ocean is the fleeing of hot money from China back to the United States as the dollar has steadily strengthened in recent weeks. To avert devastation to its economy, China will probably have to impose draconian measures to thwart any mass exodus of capital. Simultaneously, this looming crisis demonstrates that China has a great deal more to learn in the treacherous world of international finance. For starters, though, rule number one in the Jungle Survival Guide to International Affairs states that nice guys seldom, if ever, don't finish last.
John Chen
USA (Aug 29, '08)

I often read your web edition, as an alternative view to the view of predominant news agencies, and I must prize you for a very professional, truthful, independent and very intelligent analysis. Mark Sakowski (Aug 29, '08)

As usual someone pretending to know China and the Chinese has written an article spouting the West's perspective, or should I say, the West's wishful thinking as regards China. Wu Zhong in his article dated August 27 China misfires with divisive 'people's war' is wrong in thinking that the security measures taken against the separatists by the government would further alienate the Han Chinese from the Tibetans and the Uyghurs. The truth is nearly all Han Chinese put the blame for the rise of separatism and separatist sentiments in China, be they Tibetans, the Uyghur, the Taiwanese or the Hong Kongers entirely on the conspiracy and instigation of anti-China elements in the West. They could see the hands of the West in the separatists' violence before and during the 2008 Olympics and are very clear at whom their hatred should be directed. Any hope on the part of China haters for increased communal hatred and striving among the Chinese ethnic groups will remain unrealized. Ben
UK (Aug 29, '08)

We guess that the mainland Chinese university that employed Dr Zhong to teach political science must have been in error too ... - ATol

Dr Sokov's piece Let's talk about World War III [Aug 26] illustrated a likely scenario which passively challenges Russia to up the ante in Georgia. But rather than a direct confrontation that both sides avoided assiduously in the Cold War, Moscow will likely inform Washington that two can play the chess game of proxy provocation by pawn. Here are my likely scenarios, all of which are available to Medvedev and Putin as potential pot-stirrings to discomfit the West: the Taliban will be provided an endless stream of weapons and intelligence to tie down an increasingly stretched NATO in a bottomless Afghan quagmire; the Sunni-Shi'ite schism is inflamed in Iraq, forcing exhausted US troops to assume more responsibility from a fractured Iraqi military; al-Qaeda suddenly acquires a new lease on life and is provided safe sanctuaries in Central Asia from where they can launch fresh terrorist attacks; North Korea abandons any pretense of cooperating with the West and resumes plutonium production; Venezuela leases military bases to the Russians; the natural gas spigot to Europe is turned on and off in the middle of Christmas season; opposition parties in Georgia and Ukraine campaign on a platform of closer ties to Russia, and even annexation; Pakistan's Moscow-funded insurgency threatens to engulf the country in civil war; Saudi dissidents are encouraged to foment an anti-royalist rebellion; Iran's nuclear weapons program is provided new technology and funds; Russia assists Syria with ballistic weapons programs, and new Russian ICBMs are developed and massively produced to offset any illusory advantage of missile defense systems. Of course, all of the these require mucho dinero, and since the Russians remember how the West crowed about Reagan and his neo-conmen spending the USSR into oblivion, wouldn't it be delicious irony if they returned the favor 20 years later, and using Western money to boot?
Hardy Campbell
Houston, Texas (Aug 28, '08)

In The Biden factor in US-Iran relations [Aug 28] by Kaveh L Afrasiabi, the author does not mention that, in addition to the recent inclusion of a potentially Iran-accommodating Joe Biden to Obama's team, there also exists one influential Zbigniew Brzezinski, who also retains a different approach to engaging Iran than does the neo-conservative-dominated Bush Administration. The wider Western geostrategic imperative vis-a-vis Iran seems to now involve stripping Iran away from Russia and China in the fields of energy, nuclear, economic, regional and military cooperation ... ideally without commencing any conflict in the Persian Gulf. In this venture, Biden and Brzezinski are presumably on the same page with regard to how they will advise Obama's presumptive foreign policy.
R Davoodi
Tehran (Aug 28, '08)

[Past presents problems for Tibet, Aug 28] The Dalai Lama claimed he is for autonomy yet there is inconsistency in his rhetoric and actions. Firstly, he keeps using "Tibetan people" in contrast to "Chinese people". In the definition of autonomy, you do not refer yourself as "Tibetan", but Chinese. Just as people in Hong Kong and Macau are Chinese. Secondly, he has repeatedly referring to Tibet as a nation. Is that autonomy? The Dalai Lama and his exile government in India is being supported monetarily by the US, or else it would have collapsed long time ago. The term "liberation of Tibet" does not connote anything as to what was insinuated by the authors. There was the "liberation of Shanghai", "liberation of Tianjin", etc, when Mao Zedong drove out the administration of the Kuomintang.
Wendy Cai
USA (Aug 28, '08)

[Re Setback for Pakistan's terror drive, Aug 27] Hi, Saleem. I am surprised you are projecting such a negative tilt on the recent fighting between the Pakistan Army and the Taliban. If the effectiveness of the recent aerial bombing is "debatable", then why is Baitullah Meshud begging for a truce? Over the last couple of years whenever the Pakistan Army took the upper hand, the Taliban asked for a truce which Musharraf stupidly accepted. This time, Rehman Malik, for all his flaws, has showed some backbone. The message to the Taliban should be simple: No truce until you lay down your weapons.
Yusaf Khan (Aug 27, '08)

Lets see what happens next - Syed Saleem Shahzad

Kent Ewing's article An Olympic triumph for China [Aug 26] is a cool-headed piece, unlike a lot of non-sensible gripes about the Beijing Olympics. The age controversy over the women gymnasts could have been raised once the competitions started, not after the gold medal had been won by China. Jealousy is part of human nature, and criticizing makes a joyful pastime for many. Surely, China has lots of things to rightfully criticize, but so have all other countries. While the host country tried its utmost to present what it thought was the best show for its visitors, what transpired could not have met the approval, the tastes, and liking of all, to be sure. It is so comforting to see that the few demonstrators were deported unharmed, and no major terrorist incident occurred.
Seung Li (Aug 27, '08)

Bravos and kudos to China for a superb Olympics. Too bad that there were not medals awarded for Most Obnoxious Foreign Leader at the Games (George W Bush in a landslide) or Most Hypocritical Commentator (Bob Costas would blow Usain Bolt away if smarmy two-facedness was convertible to speed.) But for sheer merit of criticism, NBC must be given a special award. Despite the fact they televised many sports for longer times than previously, including my favorites such as football (soccer), NBC deserves darts and arrows for their blatant flag waving and neglect of anybody not painted in stars and stripes. They consistently downplayed or ignored non-US athletes with outstanding performances and preferred interviewing American athletes who failed or choked on the biggest stage. Instead of celebrating the international experience of the Olympics with features on other countries, they time and time again showed articles on home-grown feel-good stories of Anglo-Saxon, beam-balancing cherubs from the heartland. To top it off, the network (does the "N" stand for "neo-con"?) insisted on harping on China's human rights record, wagging their American finger at the Communist Party or the IOC or anyone else they could think of, showing how much better and self-righteous Americans are about our supposedly sincere devotion to humanity. I was gladdened to see IOC chairman Rogge deftly parry Costas' puny attempts at cornering him, but lamented his failure to point out that a country that invades sovereign nations with impunity and inflicts untold suffering on hundreds of thousands with their imperialist ambitions is really in no position to lecture anyone on human rights. But of course that won't stop the NBC-eocons from climbing on their high pommel horse and reproaching everyone who isn't American for not doing what the US says, rather than doing what the US does. Oh well. All is not lost concerning American ignorance about the world. As one wit put it, "War is God's way of teaching Americans geography."
Hardy Campbell
Houston, Texas (Aug 27, '08)

The "wit" of whom you speak was American journalist and author Ambrose Bierce (1842 -1914) - ATol

Asia Times Online's China editor Wu Zhong, in his avatar of Sun Wukong, hits the nail squarely on the head with his exhortation to the Chinese government to avoid policies that could encourage the Han people to tread the primrose path of Han chauvinism with respect to other nationalities that also constitute the multinational state that is China [China misfires with divisive 'people's war', Aug 27]. May I suggest here that arousing Han chauvinism is one of the major goals of those abroad who would split the country?
M Henri Day, PhD, MD
Stockholm (Aug 27, '08)

[Re Biden as Obama's 'bridge', Aug 27] Jim Lobe and Senators Obama and Biden need to know that putting a multilateral face on the defense of the American Empire won't work. Hot war with Iran or Russia to defend US hegemony, or even another "cold war" with Russia is a sure-fire prescription for disaster - for the US and the world. The status quo of a world economy dominated by military-industrial complexes, a mindless consumption of oil and other dwindling natural resources is not sustainable. We all need to cooperate to address the urgent problems we face. Russia and Iran need to know that if they attempt to emulate the might-makes-right approach to foreign policy of the George W Bush administration, the US will respond as they have responded to those same provocations. But they also need to know, while there is a functioning world-wide Internet, the lies and propaganda of the government and corporate-controlled media will not be accepted as a pretext for war. Joe Biden needs to know that we - the citizens to whom he is nominally responsible - know who shot first in Georgia; that it is a world-wide corporate and financial elite desperately clinging to an unsustainable status quo of whom we are most afraid - not the "Russian bear". Senator Obama needs to know that vague talk about "change" can not buy time for his Wall Street backers to cook up more schemes for exporting their fraudulent paper to a skeptical world no matter how loudly he, Joe Biden and the Wall Street bankers can make the Russian bear roar. We don't need any more of that kind of "experience", Joe.
Steven Lesh (Aug 27, '08)

Some comments to Kent Ewing's article An Olympic triumph for China [Aug 26]. When China agreed to Internet access, they meant you can send home the reports electronically. Why should reporters be interested in websites such as Falungong and human rights when they are in Beijing reporting the sporting events and other happenings? Should pornographic websites be accessible as well? Regarding the age of the gymnasts: it was reported that a Western sports officials said on TV that Chinese authorities can claim these gymnasts as 40 years old. If they don't even want to believe the proof, why bother to ask for it? I heard remarks that some athletes were even checking the heels of the shoes worn by the lady who carried their banner because they are taller than what they perceive about Chinese. Why the big contradictions? For gymnasts, they look too tiny for their age yet the volunteer looked too tall for a Chinese woman. As for the switch on the young singers it is all understandable for the Chinese. In all past news articles, Chinese residents had been shown with having bad teeth and other facial features that made them ugly. China just wanted to present a singer without blemish and therefore the switch was made since the original singer does not appear as "cute" with her teeth. For the human rights advocates, my suggestion is for them to dig up things which are inhumane in their own backyards before they pick China's faults.
Wendy Cai
USA (Aug 26, '08)

[Re Playing nice with Russia has failed, Aug 26] The premise of this article is wrong - and as a result, the whole thesis borders on the bizarre. Being on-the-spot witness to a Russian implosion of the 1990s, I can testify first-hand that Russia never had gotten a so-called "free ride" from the West. What it did get was the worst and most self-serving economic advice, mixed with a massive geopolitical squeeze in violation of all the earlier promises as well as wholesale looting of the country, all topped with insults and gloating over Russian travails. If that's how the West "plays nice" then why is anybody surprised that the silly charade had "failed"? Simply put, "free ride" is either a figment of Mr Morici's imagination or a complete misnomer. All of the success that Putin had achieved - and it's immense - was obtained in spite of the West, not because of it. It's a result of hard work, sacrifice and sound macroeconomic management. High commodity prices sure help, but Russia stashes a bulk of its windfall revenue away, so the impact is somewhat limited. Not a single point of contention highlighted by Mr Morici has much merit. Russian exports carry no tariffs (except on a Russian side) because they consist mostly of primary materials, and thus vitally important to the West itself. The West can tax these at any time - and Russia wouldn't skip a beat. Such a step would only accelerate an already brisk transfer of Western manufacturing capacity to the developing world. And of course the West can diversify away from Russia no more than it can diversify from the Planet Earth. If not an empty propaganda, then it's just as empty as a pipedream. The alleged persecution of Western investors is, of course, totally bogus. Today foreign companies control some 60% of Russian automaking capacity - and nobody is toying with their property. Same with non-durable consumer goods, media and retail trade. Foreign investment is far more welcome in Russia than Russian investment is in the West. After BP and Shell muscled into Russian oil fields, British government made it abundantly clear that Gazprom couldn't buy downstream assets in the UK. Although ExxonMobil operates in Russia, it's inconceivable that any US upstream operation could be sold to a Russian company. One can only recall a Unocal affair to realize that. How could a low-key economist like Peter Morici transform into a neo-con wannabe is not for me to analyze. Perhaps the word "Russia" has some touch of perverse magic in it. Or the United States itself is in a such a poor shape that bashing foreigners simply feels good. Or both. Whatever it is, the recipes prescribed are far from helpful.
Oleg Beliakovich
Seattle (Aug 26, '08)

I read Dr Nikolai Sokov's article, Lets Talk about World War III [Aug 26]. A lot of it made sense, except the part where,"Russian troops can overwhelm the Georgian military, but they do not stand a chance against the United States." This doesn't make any sense. I have kept up on the news about the wars ongoing for the past eight years that America is involved in. Does Dr Sokov know where America has a few extra battalions of fresh fighting men just hanging out with nothing to do? Along with working equipment not presently in battle? Very doubtful. The American military machine is in need of servicing. The Americans don't have squat, it is all used up. Rusting on the battlefield, in a junkyard, or in a yard awaiting refurbishment. I suppose the Taliban, Iran, al-Qaeda and the Iraqis will have a time-out and cease hostilities so that the US can take care of Russia. The US would be more likely to rely on nuclear weapon strikes. Europe would be facing a very cold winter should they tag along for any foolishness the US dares to attempt with Russia in the Caucasus. NATO countries without nuclear weapons are proxy states of those who do have weapons in NATO. Something to think about should you live in Europe.
Bob Van den Broeck
Canada (Aug 26, '08)

I find the information in your article Afghan numbers don't add up [Aug 22] to be really cogent, but for me there is one missing piece of information: whether or not the Taliban/warlords have access to MANPADS [man-portable air-defense systems] like the US Stinger or Russian Strela [missiles]. It seems to me that in Afghanistan (and in Iraq) the real problem is US airstrikes. Thanks for the ongoing reporting. John Eadie (Aug 25, '08)

Thanks. My information is that they still have some missiles, but those missiles are no longer useful.
Syed Saleem Shahzad (Aug 25, '08)

Your article Apocalypse later [Aug 22] should be "the most read". With the exception of articles published in ATimes it is difficult for people to have any grasp of the size of the incubus of US military spending. Of course it will all collapse in the long run, but in so doing it may take many of us with it. If either Obama or McCain had any brains, character, courage, advisers, knowledge (goodness, what else does it take?) they would take the whole thing by the scruff of the neck. The trouble is, of course, the US economy would be devastated. ... Of course every country needs to "defend" itself. But since when was the terrorizing and alienating of millions of people across the world, and thereby storing up decades of future violence, a strategy for self-protection? The US is like the playground fat bully discovering that his vast flab is fast becoming a personal disaster rather than a frightener.
Louis Chevalier (Aug 25, '08)

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Olympics as political arena [Aug 16]. There has not been enough critique of how sports are used as a political prop to send a message of nationalism and imperialism. The only thing I would suggest is you should show the downfalls of not only the US but also the Soviet Union.
Ross Wadder (Aug 25, '08)

[Re Musharraf not the problem, or solution, Aug 22] The way the assets of the British Indian Army were allocated during partition in 1947 at once created in Pakistan a new nation in which the single largest and most sophisticated institution by far was the military. Subsequently, the Kashmir wars, the secession of Bangladesh, American military aid first to fight the Russians in Afghanistan and then to fund the "war on terror", and the development of nuclear capability further strengthened the lopsided role of the military in Pakistan. It is a garrison state. The theatrical exit of Musharraf will not change that reality. The military will have its say. It may even tighten its grip. Cha-am Jamal
Thailand (Aug 25, '08)

Re Afghan numbers don't add up [Aug 22] This war will not be won by the US and its allies because the longer it lasts, the more the Afghans will hate the occupiers - even more than they are hated in Iraq.
Saqib Khan
UK (Aug 22, '08)

[on the edge]

The notion that all or the majority of Pakistanis are sympathetic to terrorists is preposterous ... Today there was another terrorist attack in Pakistan, you think [such claims] are not insulting the families of the victims?
Juchechosunmanse (Aug 22, '08)
35 Olympic spectators held as terror suspects

[letters]

[Re Musharraf not the problem, or solution, Aug 22] [Former Pakistan president Pervez] Musharraf's replacement is a less important issue than the restoration of judges - on which [Asif Ali] Zardari has again flip-flopped, backtracked, lied and used his coalition partners in Machiavellian style. He has taken focus away from the judges to the presidential election for himself. Now, he is vying himself for the presidency against agreements to appoint a non-political, non-controversial personality equally respected in all four provinces. These are the minimum qualifications required for this job, besides experience, knowledge, character, unflinching selflessness, honesty, never having been tried for criminal charges, and being a true Muslim. Zardari is most controversial and does not meet any parameters of the presidency. As a party [Pakistan People's Party] co-chairman he cannot constitutionally vie for the position. He virtually ruled and failed miserably in economy, domestic and foreign affairs, law and order, corruption and skyrocketing prices ... Enough is enough ... To be the [widower] of Benazir Bhutto is not [enough] merit to become president.
Zeenate Nooure Zaman
Karachi, Pakistan (Aug 22, '08)

Once again, M K Bhadrakumar deserves our applause. Musharraf not the problem, not the solution [Aug 22] like Ariadne's thread in the maze leads us out of a cul de sac in our understanding at what has been happening in Pakistan under the reign of former president Pervez Musharraf. Nonetheless even though he is right in saying that "as long as Bush remains in power, the impression will continue that US is engaged in a crusade aimed at humiliating the Muslim world", it is doubtful that an enlightened new president in the Oval Office will not continue pursuing Mr Bush's goals. Thus, it is problematic that a Barack Obama presidency - if we rely on his endless speech on the need to beef up US and NATO forces in Afghanistan as well as to bring the war to al-Qaeda and the Taliban in the Waziristans - would change policy in mid-stream. An aside: as for the corrosive role that the "ubiquitous" Pakistani intelligence services, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has played behind the scenes, a curious reader might enjoy Mohammed Hanif's recently published sly novel A Case of Exploding Mangoes. Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Aug 22, '08)

As previously, Chaos descends on Nepal [Aug 13], by the well-known journalist of Nepal Mr Dhruba Adhikary, has disseminated all the facts and figures that are surfacing in the tiny but culturally great Himalayan nation. This appreciated and effective article could be a great help to those who are anxious to know what is really happening currently in Nepal. That is why the writer should certainly be thanked for penning down the same. It's very important and necessary as well to know that Nepal is still in a transition phase and the dealings and affairs of state are being carrying out in a temporary basis since the country is managing under the provisions of an interim constitution ... So, bearing that in mind, they are not allowed to carry out any such work which will have a long-lasting and permanent affect to nation and democracy. The current mandate ... is only for drafting a suitable and viable permanent constitution ... but the present political parties who are involved in running the country are [acting] as if they are in government by general election. Nepal's nationality and unity are under a great threat at this very critical juncture and dangerous attacks against the same have been clearly seen from external elements. ... There are a few vivid instances of hidden conspiracies that have been hatched in order to weaken and shake Nepal. So, national consensus and the broader unity of government through the application of the national reconciliation policy adopted by great leader B P Koirala is a must [for] Nepal to save its identity as an independent nation.
Dibakar Pant
St Paul, Minnesota
USA (Aug 22, '08)

Re Afghan numbers don't add up [Aug 22] by Syed Saleem Shahzad. The Taliban have switched to guerrilla-style tactics, like suicide bombing and roadside explosions, rather than "head-on confrontation" with NATO forces and are making substantial progress. The Taliban are not short of recruits who are willing to give their lives for the liberation of their country from foreign occupation, which they call "occupation of the infidels" and consider it to be the greatest insult that could be inflicted on Afghan dignity and honor. The British could never conquer these rugged and ferocious people and the sooner the Americans and Europeans learn this, it will save them hundreds of body bags. So far this year, 176 foreign soldiers had been killed in Afghanistan, including 99 Americans. During 12 months of 2007, 232 foreign troops were killed, the highest number since the war began in 2001. This year that number could double. More foreign fighters have entered Afghanistan this summer than in previous years, NATO officials say, an indication that ... groups have been able to gather more foreign fighters in their tribal strongholds. The new push by the Taliban is helped by more Afghanis joining to fight for the liberation of their country ... This war will not be won by the US and its allies because the longer it lasts, the more the Afghans will hate the occupiers - even more than they are hated in Iraq. Afghans have a history as rugged and fearless as their mountains and terrain and are a proud people who'll never to be subjugated by a conqueror. NATO can double the numbers of its troops but they will never subdue or defeat the will and courage of Taliban and of the Afghan people ... I believe that NATO failure in Afghanistan has made Pakistan vulnerable and raised aspirations of many who would love to see a Muslim country with nuclear power adopt an Islamic political, social, economic, financial, judicial and constitutional system of governance in their country.
Saqib Khan
UK (Aug 22, '08)

Americans play Monopoly, Russians chess, Aug 19] Spengler has always provided a barometer as to the current thinking of the Israeli leadership. Russia's gobbling up of the breakaway Georgian provinces was definitely not to Israel's liking. Israel, after all, apparently had about a thousand military "advisors" working with the current Georgian leadership at the time South Ossetia was invaded by Georgia. It would appear to be undeniable that Israel either had foreknowledge of this military aggression and did nothing to prevent it, or might actually have encouraged it in the first place. Now, Israel is very nervous because the Russians know full well of Israeli complicity in the failed Georgian misadventure. Russia has now placed Israel at the top of its list of enemies along with the US. All of a sudden, Israeli dreams for an oil pipeline to Israel become very problematical because it knows full well that this pipeline has now been put right at the top of the list of Russia's potential targets in any future conflagration. What does Spengler (and Israel) now propose? To simply turn on its one-time ally Ukraine, sell it out, and cut it adrift as a way to get on better terms with the current Russian leadership? In return all Israel wants is for Russia to lend Israel support in those areas near and dear to the Israeli: a potential attack on Iran and support against "terrorists". (Israel's definition of "terrorist" is, of course, rather vague and is best described as support against anyone that Israel doesn't like.) There is no chance of this happening however. None whatsoever. The problem is simply that Israel's outrageous behavior has now made Russia into its militarily capable enemy. Israel's barely hidden support for the various "color" revolutions in the former Russian satellites, added to the enmity that Russia has held towards Israel since the time of the USSR. The recent events in Georgia made this split permanent. Russia now loathes Israel. Russia has learned something that we Americans should have learned decades ago: that with "friends" like Israel, she (and we) need enemies.
John Dudley
San Francisco (Aug 21, '08)

At last a touch of realism. Dr Kaveh Afrasiabi dots the i's in US falters on NATO's failure [Aug 21]. He doesn't mince words in assessing the US war of words with Russia. Georgia, after all, begin it all, he rightly observes. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, despite being a Russian specialist, has another agenda in criticizing Moscow. Washington's program for action is a non-starter; polluting political discourse with big words and high bluster. As for European members of NATO, the poker pot in the blame game is too small for them to give wholehearted support to Mr Bush's stand off with Moscow. They, after all, are dependent on Russian gas and oil deliveries for industry and household use. Professor Afrasiabi calls for cold reason and level-headedness in America's dealing with Russia, but before the grandstanding dies down, he has a long wait for that to happen. Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Aug 21, '08)

[Re India's failure of Olympic proportions, Aug 8] The concerns of Neeta Lal and others regarding India's lack of Olympic accomplishments are misbegotten. As an American, I see daily what becomes of a society that places athletics above academics. In the US, parents think nothing of allowing their children to miss school to travel to athletic programs, whether as participants or as viewers. They prefer to spend their time and money driving their children to after-school and weekend practice but not to tutoring or museums. US parents teach their children to emulate athletes instead of community leaders. In terms of the "big picture", one of the results is the US continues to slip behind India and China in academics, particularly in math and science. The US has become dependent upon India and China for its computer programmers, physicians and researchers. The everyday American can tell you who played in the last Super Bowl, but not why Russia matters in the post-Soviet era. On a local level, it is not uncommon to hear about municipalities that approve funding to build new sports arenas but not to pay for educational facilities and programs. The emphasis on athletics over academics has resulted in a workforce that has difficulty applying thought and common-sense to everyday business activities. It is true that India is not known for sports. However, I prefer that my children study the strategies of the Mittals and the Ambanis rather than the strategies of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.
Mauryzia Wong
Houston, Texas, USA (Aug 21, '08)

Georgian planning flaws led to failure [Aug 20] by Richard Giragosian is full of technical military aspects of the Georgia conflict. One cannot help but notice the glaring omission of the phrase "against a sleeping civilian city" which should have been added to the following quoted sentence: "The thrust came after a preparatory artillery attack from Georgian positions with fire support capabilities including target-oriented and concentrated fire, and including a mortar barrage and launch of notoriously imprecise truck-mounted GRAD multiple-barreled rocket launchers." "Grad" (Russian meaning "hail") rockets are anti-personnel grapnel shells designed to kill indiscriminately. From my understanding of the accepted rules of engagement, this is a war crime. Aside from the article, the US corporate press is bellowing to punish Russia. ...
Ken Moreau
New Orleans, Louisiana
USA (Aug 20, '08)

[Re Georgian planning flaws led to failure , Aug 20] The article correctly points out that the Roki Tunnel being left intact was the key to Russia achieving a rapid response in carrying out their invasion of Georgia. The question that is not asked is why? After all, when declaring war on an autonomous region that is asleep or watching the spectacle called the opening ceremony of the Olympics by shelling the entire city with GRAD missiles and heavy artillery coupled with the cold-blooded execution of civilians to encourage mass exodus does not happen without planning. The answer may be that a counterattack was the response sought by the Israeli and US advisors. A meticulous blitzkrieg attack on the South Ossetian capital, which within hours gained Georgia control of most of the autonomous region, must have recognized that the Roki Tunnel was a key target which would have accomplished the important task of delaying the expected Russian response. No doubt [Georgian President Mikheil] Sashakivilli was told that an immediate action plan to call for a ceasefire after the destruction and de-population of South Ossetia would limit the damage to Georgia by the US and France's already prepared frenzied rush to re-enforce the Georgian self-proclaimed "ceasefire" and cast Russia as the neighborhood bully. The "plan" has worked to perfection - with Poland the first to enlist in the trans-Atlantic alliance. The goals of weakening NATO, replacing it with a more direct trans-Atlantic force governed solely by the US, casting Russia as a threat, to act as a catalyst for the subsequent recruitment of Ukraine among others have all been met. A masterstroke that required a planned media response, willing collaborators willing to subvert NATO (France), a willing puppet who would sacrifice a few hundred Georgians and murder 1,500 South Ossetians are the ingredients required to execute this gambit of the Great Game. The red herring is supplied by the pipeline - and of course, as usual, "democracy". Obviously, the US has become much improved in how they achieve their objectives. The Russians were left with no option but to walk into a carefully prepared snare.
iyamwutiam (Aug 20, '08)

The letter from Goram Getzler [letters, Aug 20] notes that "the importance of Israel in the real political world of Iran is minor" ... and adds that "Iran has become the major influence against any compromises between the state of Israel and its neighbors". Unfortunately, Mr Getzler ignores history. First of all, Iran has no issue with Judaism. It does, however, have issue with revisionary Zionism. This political ideology has opposed any movement that created unity in the Muslim community, or the Arab-Persian connection. In fact Israel and the US have made a top priority of avoiding any Arab-Persian unity. The ties with the Shah and his brutal repressive regime will not be soon forgotten. They supported pro-Western Arab regimes throughout the region. They supported a ring of unfriendly regimes surrounding the area. They became the supreme proxy arms supplier for support of American foreign policy. This is not Judaism ... this was the price for the support of revisionary Zionism and continued expansion into Palestine. It is not Judaism that has become an indispensable part of the US's geopolitical strategy in the Middle East and Central Asia - it is revisionary Zionism. Zionists sold the soul of Judaism to gain political and economic strength. They did this with Britain early in the last century, they dealt with the Germans in the early 1930s, and they curried favor with the US following the Suez crisis. They are parasites to power, at the expense of a wonderful and beautiful religion. America's regional priorities have become Israel's priorities, which is even evident in the military training in post-Cold War Georgia, an alliance that clearly affected Iran. My biggest fear is that the predictions of Rabbi Elmer Berger will ring true. He noted that after the Palestinians, the Jews were the next greatest victims of revisionary Zionism. How I hope it isn't so.
Miles Tompkins
Antigonish, Canada (Aug 20, '08)

Mr Dhruba Adhikary's article Chaos descends on Nepal [Aug 13] was worth reading. I didn't know that Nepal ranked 22nd in the "index of state weakness in the developing world" [among 141 countries included in a report released this year by the Brookings Institution in the US] and if the political upheaval continues it will not be a surprise if the number goes up. As pointed out by the writer, if there is anyone to blame for the situation Nepal is going through it will be nobody except the corrupt and power-hungry politicians. What Nepal now needs is someone like Prithvi Narayan Shah [the first Shah King who unified Nepal] or someone as selfless as B P Koirala [the first democratic prime minister]. I will be looking forward to more updates after the Maoist leader [Prachanda] has taken the post of prime minister.
Anamika
Perth, Australia (Aug 20, '08)

Greetings and shalom. I read with great interest and excitement an excerpt of your article Israel and Iran: A bridge too far? [August 14] in the Elsewhere section of the Jerusalem Post. It is not often we here in Israel have the opportunity to hear so different an opinion, from what is for us, the commonly accepted and agreed upon point of view on subjects of such great and intimate importance to us. One of the elements in your writing I appreciated is the recognition that the homeland of the Jewish people, as well as the site of our ancient temple, was indeed Jerusalem. We hear many important people in the world of Islam, particularly the Arab Muslims, challenging the reality of that historical fact. A corollary is the recognition that Jews lived in Iran/Persia a thousand years before the coming of Islam. As you point out, the importance of Israel in the real political world of Iran is minor. That understanding adds weight to our concerns because we can see no reason why declarations against Israel and the Jewish people are so important to be voiced by President Ahmadinejad with such fury and frequency. It also is incongruous that the importance is so great that the antagonism it causes with the Western world is insufficient to bring about a greater silence on the subject. It is a mystery to us as well that a country with whom we do have disputes [but] no common borders, a country to which we provided generous assistance to over many years, would take the time and trouble to make so much political noise over Israel, a nation which poses no threat whatsoever to it. I believe that a perusal of the last few years' newspapers will show that threats against Israel by Iran preceded any antagonistic words directed at Iran by Israel. It might also be interesting to note that at one point a few years ago, the Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, the Minister of Defense, and the president of the country were all of Persian/Iranian origin. They all spoke publicly with great pride and fondness of their country of origin. I can state categorically that the people of Israel have no anger toward the people of Iran. Except for the violent threats voiced by the Iranian government we have many more pressing issues to concern ourselves with. However, it is difficult for us to ignore or forget Iran's unavoidable and negative influences directed against us, in our part of the world. In Syria, Lebanon and Gaza, Iran plays an active and influential part in the violent, hateful relationship toward us. Iran has become the major influence against any compromises between the state of Israel and its neighbors. Thank you again for sharing your insights on so important a subject.
Yoram Getzler
Jerusalem (Aug 19, '08)

I must profusely thank ATol for publishing my letter as below.You were so timely in doing so. It needs republishing ... Thanks and regards. Very soon, [Pakistani President Pervez] Musharraf is destined to leave. He chose an undignified place for himself in history. He thought usurping power through illegal, unconstitutional means made him owner of the country. The patience of nations should never be underestimated, nor its quiet nature. Let future rulers also keep this in mind and fear the power that never sleeps, that sees you not only in the darkness of night and in the light of day, but also hears your midnight whispers, your unseen, unheard tears.
Warriss Shaw (Aug 19, '08)

Georgia through Russian eyes [Aug 19] is a very astute article. There might well be a companion article, "USA through clear eyes", that chronicles the accelerating change of the US into an authoritarian state. There are more US citizens than one might think who are aghast at the deterioration of freedom in the US. Both major parties bear major responsibility for this deterioration. Perhaps this is one of the reasons so many voters register as "independent", because they recognize the sameness and the authoritarian tendencies of the Republican and Democratic parties.
Tom Gerber (Aug 19, '08)

By now, no one should be surprised at the forward looking plans of Singapore's government. A rapid review of the city state's 40-year-leap from a backwater third world economy to a first world economy says it all. Yet, the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) has never rested on its laurels, and has always striven to look ahead in keeping the home of the Merlion on the cutting edge of development and social progress, not only in the green sector but in life sciences, and the financial industry, etc. Singapore's progress rests on molding its citizens attitude for rapid changes. As such, since it has no natural resources to speak of, it has to rely on the brain power and energy and commonsensical attitude of its people. Andrew Symon's Singapore at 'green' cutting edge [Aug 19], is a good example of the country's resiliency and survival.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Aug 19, '08)

I believe Spengler is mistaken in his conclusions in Americans play Monopoly, Russians chess [Aug 19]. The Russians success in Georgia has far more to do with Georgian or President Saakashvili's stupidity than Russian brilliance. Spengler paints a picture of the terrible demographic future that awaits Russia, that future could be vastly improved if Russia was run to benefit the Russian people and not a hundred billionaires. However, it appears Putin is one of those billionaires and it seems he has no interest in weakening himself politically or personally to help the Russian people. As for the expansion of the Russian empire this was not accomplished by Russian traders but by the Russian army. The Russian serfs that were the vast majority of the Russian people were legally tied to the land and were not free to roam at will. The fact that the Russian serf was not freed until 1861, hundreds of years after their European counterparts, explains a lot about Russian behavior. Also, the Ukraine is not Georgia; it is 10 times larger with more than 10 times the population. The Russian military can not roll over the Ukrainian military in a day with a handful of casualties. Russia cannot help the West in ensuring that Iran does not go nuclear, at this stage only military action will work and it appears not to be in the cards. What the US needs now is an Iranian Saakashvili.
Dennis O'Connell
USA (Aug 19, '08)

Re Jawboning the Chinese elephant, August 19. I'll venture to suggest that both US presidential candidates are refraining from bashing China due to a greater recognition of reality rather than a "deep ignorance" of the situation. During Bill Clinton's and George W Bush's respective campaigns for the White House, the US was at the zenith of its power and China was no more than a stripling among the global elites; Clinton and Bush thus could afford to be uninhibited in criticizing China. A decade or so, and umpteen short-sighted, self-destructive US actions later, times are a bit different. Not only is the world trending toward multipolarity, but whoever becomes the next president will quickly need China's help in addressing a host of pressing issues, not the least of which is a looming recession that likely will hammer the US. Besides, what exactly would a China-bashing fest accomplish other than lead to a pissing contest between John McCain and Barack Obama? Precious campaign funds can be better spent elsewhere.
John Chen
USA (Aug 19, '08)

[Re Utterly pointless Europe, Aug 16] Chan Akya is all in a tizzy because the Russians, whose alleged geopolitical death was apparently greatly exaggerated, are all of a sudden acting like Mr Akya's American neo-con heroes. He castigates the British for cutting and running and "not doing the right thing in Iraq". But, what was the right thing to do in Iraq? Kill another million [people]? Displace another five million? The right thing would have been never to have invaded at all, something the Europeans were very early on quite clear about. More importantly, Mr Akya has focused so strenuously on the sideshow in Georgia that he has totally failed to see the metaphorical elephants go by: Russia is destined to be the dominant power in Europe, not just because its GDP growth for 2009 is estimated by Kiplinger's at 6.8% compared to 1.5% for the US; not just because of its vast landmass with what that implies when it comes to natural resources; not even because of the relative youth and 100% literacy of its people. While these factors will certainly contribute, Russia will be the dominant power in Europe simply because Russia is culturally, politically and racially inextricably a part of Europe. Iraq and Afghanistan seem to foreshadow America's sad fate. Death by a thousand cuts awaits the US as it steps resolutely into the quicksands of debilitating armed conflict all over the planet. Why should the Europeans feel obliged to follow us there?
Jose R Pardinas, PhD
San Diego, USA (Aug 18, '08)

[Re Utterly pointless Europe, Aug 16] Chan Akaya betrayed an astounding lack of knowledge of European history when he stated that the French have a centuries old habit of surrendering without firing a shot. Similarly, characterizing Europe as enervated by socialism is plain silly. Has he even been to Europe? What he says is just is not true, or even close to the truth. How can he offer analysis of the Georgian situation? This is not ATol quality.
Steve McCaffery
Canada (Aug 18, '08)

As usual, a masterly analysis by Ambassador Bhadrakumar in The end of the post-Cold War era [Aug 13]. But will the US indeed be able to force major European states like France and Germany into accepting Georgia, with its unresolved territorial situation and its unstable and almost delusional leadership, as a member of NATO? To do so would make these countries responsible for providing Georgia with military aid on the event of Mr Saakashvili committing his country to further military adventures. Does the Franco-German leadership really wish to see this particular tail wagging this dog? ...
M Henri Day, PhD, MD
Stockholm (Aug 18, '08)

Just a word of praise and admiration for the superb articles you routinely publish. Asia Times has quickly become my "newspaper" of choice online. I am assured of reading insightful, informed, and incisive writing on important topics, a style of journalism sorely lacking in too many media outlets today who are afraid to report anything other than the politically correct line.
Garthe Kindler (Aug 18, '08)

[Re Sufism, sodomy and Satan, Aug 12] Spengler's ... disregard for human beings doesn't sit well with his edict on love and his Judeo-Christian God. The fact that Putin ordered the bombing of civilians to make a point has parallels with how Jesus was crucified to make an example for others. But Spengler doesn't want to make that parallel known. When it suits him to emphasize Judeo-Christian God's love he writes verses to that effect. As I have previously said, and incidentally ATol didn't post it, Spengler isn't here to inform. He is the mouthpiece of the soldiers of the so-called apocalypse with their own agendas that are a far cry from anything the Judeo-Christian God had to say. I reckon if Russia were to bomb any other country it would be Israel.
Vahid Pourghadiri
Australia (Aug 15, '08)

The article India-Pakistan relationship in free fall [Aug 15] by M K Bhadrakumar fails to mention that the very few "peace treaties" between Pakistan and India have failed. So, why continue the same path when one knows the result? Usually this is considered a sign of madness. The sectarian divide between India and Pakistan is the central issue. The Armanath Land issue is a classic example. The Muslims have already taken the path of destruction to solve their myriad problems. In this situation all other beliefs are to be challenged. If radical Islam has taken this route where they have the power to force the Indian government to revoke their former decision to transfer land to a Hindu temple, where will it stop? Really the only fear that Indian Muslims face is a far right Hindu/India oriented ... government that does not give a damn what the Indian Muslims demand. Maybe the Indian Muslims need to speak in Urdu ...
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
USA (Aug 15, '08)

Why does Antoaneta Bezlova in China's tough Xinjiang policy backfires [Aug 15] use the conditional tense in reporting that China's policy to pacify Muslim insurgencies in Xinjiang "may have pushed an alleged separatist movement across the border into Pakistan and Afghanistan"? US troops had arrested Uyghurs from Xinjiang after the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan. They languished in Guantanamo until the US courts ruled in their favor after years of imprisonment without trial. News stories over the years have been filed about the training of Chinese Turkmen and their fighting alongside of other foreign Muslims in the Waziristan provinces of Pakistan. The recent resurgence of Uyghur separatists in the far away edges of Xinjiang is a tell-tale response to Beijing's harsh policies towards the Turkmen majority who are resisting a harsh policy of Sinofication, the torrent of Chinese settlers, and the fear of marginalization and the loss of cultural and national identity. That the attacks in Kashgar, for example, exploit the Olympic Games is not in question, nor is the desire of fierce Uyghur nationalists who will use any mean necessary to fight for the rights and the land of their countrymen and women.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Aug 15, '08)

[Re Russian halt leaves crucial questions, Aug 14] Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, with hair a bit askew - like a disturbed Mary Poppins with her umbrella blown wrong-side out - now angrily shakes her rhetorical finger at the gathered media. She stamps her foot in obvious irritation as she publicly blames Putin as the singular aggressor who started all the bloodshed. Her two charges, Bush and Cheney, lean over the side of their perambulator winking coyly at each other; totally oblivious it seems to the shadows in the background showing the faces of mourning villagers from Ossetia; and Georgia too. Who agitated this tragedy? Who smirks from the pram?
Beryl K
Gullsgate, Minnesota
USA (Aug 14, '08)

[Re The end of the post-Cold War era, Aug 13] Mr Bhadrakumar's argument is so puerile that I'm having a hard time deciding where to begin taking it apart. However, I'll keep it simple: When it comes to energy, Russia has the Europeans by the short hairs. Neither France nor Germany would ever risk their oil and gas supplies merely to please the American/Israeli neo-cons. On the contrary, the recent unpleasantness in the Caucasus practically guarantees that Georgia will never become part of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The Russians, consummate chess players that they've always been, have scored a profound multi-faceted victory. They have with one swift stroke not only acquired two nifty new provinces, but the Western powers (Israel included) will from here on out have to tread very lightly when it comes to Russia's traditional geographic sphere of influence. Not bad for a couple a couple of days work - Putin is a genius!
Jose R Pardinas, PhD
San Diego, California
USA (Aug 14, '08)

[Re The end of the post-Cold War era, Aug 13] The alleged "uni-polar world", ie, where everybody does what America says, is dead and buried. That is the lesson of the Georgian war. In mid-July the US sent 1,000 troops in a "training exercise" of the Georgian army. Presumably not unrelated to what that army was training for. In 1995, US and British officers trained and de facto commanded our Croatian ... allies in the extermination of the 250,000-strong Krajina community. Ossetia was clearly meant to be a re-run of this. Instead, the Russians were able to annihilate their army in four days of combat and the Americans, despite encouraging [Georgia], were useless. Georgia may have been weak, but a counterattack in response to a surprise attack is not easy. Big countries can bungle in military matters, as Stalin proved in 1939 in his war against Finland. Nor can we, with the experience of Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, make any credible complaint about not respecting national sovereignty or "excessive bombing". We live on the same planet as Russia and we have to live together. For that we actively need to embrace international law. The NATO countries have been at the forefront of saying that international law doesn't exist and it is perfectly OK for big countries and alliances to invade smaller ones. The Russians noted NATO's support of the "cleansing" of the Serb enclaves in Croatia (on which Georgia's actions were clearly patterned) and of our bombing of Yugoslavia to seize Kosovo. We have sown that wind and cannot expect, not merely Russia, but anybody, to allow us to be a referee enforcing rules that we have already torn up. In fact, the Russians have gone to some lengths to merely bend laws that we have previously broken. Law is not a luxury but a necessity for any society and as the world gets smaller adherence to international law becomes ever more vital. We should work with the Russians and everybody else to strengthen such law and establish consistent and relatively impartial rules on ethnic sovereignty (and many other causes of disputes) and then to keep them. The alternative is what happened in August 1914 but with modern weapons.
Neil Craig
Glasgow, Scotland (Aug 14, '08)

[Re The end of the post-Cold War era, Aug 13] It should be obvious to anyone who has read the neo-con "game plan" for the 21st century that the envelopment of Russia with NATO has always been a key ingredient in the assurance of American global hegemony. But just as obviously, Russia's responses are wholly predictable, with the thrashing of Georgia just one of many future demonstrations of Russian resolve. The barely mentioned talk of Russian nuclear-capable planes visiting Cuba will become more vociferous, and no one should be surprised if Moscow decides a bit of tit-for-tat-in-YOUR-backyard is called for. Indeed, one would be wise to recall the rationale for Khruschev's Cuban adventure in 1962 being Russia's encirclement by NATO nukes. Just how far will Washington, bogged down in two unwinnable wars, be willing to tread down this path of superpower chicken? Just how far will an oil-dependent Europe be willing to sacrifice their own stability for evangelical neo-con fanaticism? How many piss-ant, corrupt, easily-bought ex-Soviet satellites/republics will be willing to find illusory refuge in a far-away and oh-so-reliable American embrace? How many new miscalculations and self-deceptions will it take to make the same old mistakes? The saw about history rarely repeating itself but frequently rhyming should be kept in mind when thoughts of 1914 come to mind. It might be tempting to put Russia in the role of Wilhelmine Germany, surrounded by a military alliance determined to prevent Teutonic aggrandizement. The numerous confrontations that preceded the July Crisis should were all intended to demonstrate the resolve, will and macho determination to ensure each country's divinely-guided destiny. Rhetoric, nationalism and an apocalyptic sense of the inevitable conspired to bring about the War to End All Wars, with its corresponding assurances of "Never Again". But the god Mars is so happy that human memories are short.
Hardy Campbell
Houston, Texas
USA (Aug 14, '08)

Dear Syed Saleem Shahzad, I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your articles. Its a breath of fresh, if not sobering, air to read your work. We in the US get precious little of this kind of work here. Paul
California (Aug 14, '08)

Mr Syed Saleem Shahzad, I just wanted to express my respect and thank you for your numerous detailed stories on the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and the battles in Afghanistan and Pakistan. You're a very brave man and unique in the field. I look for your stories and add them quickly to the Newslinks box on The Counterterrorism Blog. Andrew Cochran (Aug 14, '08)
Co-Chairman, Counterterrorism Foundation
Founder and Site Editor, The Counterterrorism Blog

Thanks, Paul and Andrew - Syed Saleem Shahzad

It is interesting to see that the "last remaining superpower" of the post-Cold War era has to "carefully cultivate" opinions of the Western capitals [The end of the post-Cold War era, Aug 13] to establish a US missile defense system to surround Russia. Whatever the US has achieved in building up Mikheil Saakashvili with red meat and high hopes, the Georgian president's recent pronouncement, to the effect that let us see some concrete actions instead of empty warnings from the West in general and the US in particular, just goes on to show that the superpower has lost a bit of its superiority. Perhaps future historians will decide that South Ossetia and Georgia rather than Afghanistan, Iraq or Iran will be the definite landmark for America's loss of its military, political and diplomatic powers.
TutuG
Scotland (Aug 13, '08)

Re The end of the post-Cold War era and Russia marks its red lines [both Aug 13]. The Chinese have a saying: "When cornered, a desperate animal will fight back with all it's got." As the bravura of Olympic pyrotechnics gave way to the fusillade of cannon fire that rent the veil of false peace in the Caucasus, one was left wondering, does the US really have to keep making life difficult for Russia? After the humiliation they suffered at the end of the Cold War, only a fool would think that the Russians would not fight back with all their might this time around. The ferocity and determination with which Russia rolled back Georgia's ill-advised military escapade will not only serve notice to the West, but also make Russia's neighbors think long and hard about their role in the new cold war.
John Chen
USA (Aug 13, '08)

[Re The end of the post-Cold War era, Aug 13] Did I miss something here. Didn't Russia just attack the sovereign nation of Georgia? ... Didn't the Georgians shell the capital of South Ossetia, which lies within those internationally recognized borders, in response to increased attacks, including heavy artillery bombardment of Georgian towns, on the part of Ossetian separatists? And exactly what were the Russian peacekeeping troops doing while the peace-loving Ossetians were shelling the Georgians? And how can a nation justify granting citizenship to the citizens of another country who are living within the internationally recognized borders of that country and then use armed force against that sovereign country supposedly on behalf of these joint citizens? What would your response be if the US issued passports to residents of a suburb of Moscow and then attacked Russia when Russian authorities arrested those same residents for throwing firebombs at passing police cars? I could go on and on in this vein, but it wouldn't sway very many of your readers. Think about it, then tell me just how "justified" Russian authorities were to invade Georgia.
M Tobias
USA (Aug 13, '08)

[Re Sufism, sodomy and Satan, Aug 12] Ah Spengler! After a long discourse on the history of love, pedophilia, narcissism and tribalism, Spengler concludes his article with: "The experience of divine love reflected in the love of men and women and their children is the foundation of society, and gay marriage would have dreadful consequences". If the love between a man and a woman were divinely sacred, there would be no heterosexual divorce at all, because if divine forces brought two individuals together, how could they possibly come apart? It is true that love, respect, knowledge, compassion, responsibility, care and affection for another - is humanly sacred, and it is deeply valued and cherished by all normal human beings. But to consider heterosexual love somehow connected to divine will, particularly because of the biological fact of reproduction, is a childish fantasy. All mammals mate and bear offspring, it is not our biological origins that bring us closer to God, but our capacity to love. And this is true of people regardless whether they are heterosexual or homosexual. Spengler doesn't tell us what these dreadful societal consequences are, only that it is his personal belief that gay marriage would produce them. The ethical errors which proceed from the mistaken belief that God expresses divine love only through heterosexual marriage leads to the erroneous idea that gay marriage is harmful to society. It is absurd to conclude that gay marriage is injurious to straight marriage (heterosexuals have always been the greatest threat to successful straight marriages as far as I can tell), and no studies exist that show gay marriage is harmful to children or harmful to society at large. The only dreadful consequence of gay marriage is the bigotry and prejudice that people have against it; a similar bigotry was used against interracial marriages in the recent past. In California, where I live, it was illegal until around the early 1960s for two people of different races to marry. Since most societies frown upon promiscuity, why would people not want to honor and celebrate when two adults of the same gender choose to commit their lives to each other? If it is merely because gay marriage cannot produce children, should we also outlaw heterosexual marriages in which the couple cannot, or choose not to, have children? It is most likely that taboos regarding homosexuality developed millenniums ago when tribal survival depended upon the reproduction of offspring to sustain that tribe's survival. But in the 21st century, with the human population reaching 6.5 billion of us, we can hardly afford to maintain such an impractical and useless taboo. If Spengler disapproves of gay marriage, I recommend that he not marry someone of his own gender, and stay out of the lives of consenting adults who love each other and are attempting the difficult task of living together happily for a lifetime. Perhaps when people begin to form their personal values from their own conscience and experience rather than simply borrowing outmoded taboos that were appropriate for an earlier time, we will see a lessening of the ugly traits of bigotry and prejudice and instead embrace the diversity of our species rather than view it with fear and condemnation.
Jerry Gerber
San Francisco (Aug 13, '08)

Sexual expression in all its variations, permutations and deviations have existed in all life forms since the Big Bang. Pun not intended. Now why would Spengler [Sufism, sodomy and Satan, Aug 12] demonize the Persians at this time? Need a good reason ... to attack Iran?
AAL
Canada (Aug 13, '08)

[Re Russia bids to rid Georgia of its folly, Aug 12] Russia's message to Georgia and everyone else is this: we're baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack. If oil at 140 smackers a barrel doesn't convince you, maybe tanks and gun barrels will. The Russia that went begging, hat in hand, to the triumphant West in the post-Soviet 1990s is out for much more than respect or revenge. Indeed, [Prime Minister Vladimir] Putin is determined to do for Russia what Ronald Reagan did for the US in the 1980s; make its people proud of not just its economic might (which even a tiny Japan or South Korea can boast of) but of a re-masculinized, muscular Motherland whose hegemony over its neighbors is almost a religious obligation. Georgia is Putin's Grenada, home of a defiant leader who brazenly cozies up to Russia's rivals. So, Putin is also delivering a transparent and naked lesson in geopolitics to not only the delusional Georgians but also any other former Soviet republic (are you listening, Ukraine?) about flirting with North American [Atlantic] Treaty Organization. See how much good that distant siren will do you when Russian shells are raining down on your parade. President George W Bush's feeble attempts to become an overnight humanitarian fall on the deafest of the deaf; his own legacy of disproportionatism will stand unchallenged for awhile. Indeed, the Republican neo-cons are doubtless envious of a leader who kicks gluteus maximus, takes names and callously disregards the entreaties of the powerless. The South Ossetia issue will be solved at Moscow's discretion, without any messy guerilla war or international economic sanctions against it, because they are the 800-pound gorilla now, flush with oil money that, to a large extent, they can thank the Americans for. So multipolarity is back, but don't get too enamored of it, since it won't last long. Bipolarity will be its successor, except the United States won't be part of that duo anymore. Instead, you'll probably see American contractors like Blackwater fighting in Chinese or Russian proxy wars.
Hardy Campbell
Houston, Texas (Aug 12, '08)

[Re Russia bids to rid Georgia of its folly, Aug 12] What a Monday. Forget the Olympics. I read John Helmer's take on Georgia's folly twice and am still unsure as to what kind of dance is going on in Georgia whose president had a commentary published in the Wall Street Journal this [Monday] morning thus joining a Norman Podhoretz whose prayers to his God were also published several months ago by the same WSJ. The gist of both commentaries was for the US to help Georgia stop the Russians and the second was for the US to obliterate Iran. Other headlines included Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's blunt warnings to Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to back off as well as several snide reminders on websites as to Senator John McCain calling his long-time good friend and president of Georgia on the telephone and telling the press, "I called my good friend President [Mikheil] Saakashvili and told him we're right behind him with the UN". The snide remarks were intended as sarcasm since the Georgian president's last name is "Saakashvili". To add to Georgia's folly, a member of their parliament by the name Temur Yakobashvili was quoted in an Israeli press report as "calling on our two democratic friends the US and Israel to stop Russia from destroying Georgia". What would really help is ATol coming to the rescue with background coverage by the likes Pepe Escobar and others from East and West as to whether the interesting times we are living through will simmer or not - or is this another typical August of happenings?
Armand De Laurell (Aug 12, '08)

I heartily recommend, based on Kent Ewing's Awe (but no laughter) in Beijing of Aug 12, that the author be appointed an advisory role in the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony in London. He shrewdly points out the absence of laughter in the worldwide audience. No clownish acts, no jokes. But it is fair to say that millions and millions of people all over watched intently, approvingly, and admiringly. The sheer magnitude of the design and execution was awe-inspiring and fortunately things went smoothly to the end. This event is praised even by the usually critical Western media. Finally some laughter may be provoked by Mr Ewing himself, especially among the Chinese. Then perfection is achieved.
Seung Li (Aug 12, '08)

I understand Kent Ewing's desire in his Awe (but no laughter) in Beijing [Aug 11] to hear laughter during China's proud moment at the opening ceremonies. I would disagree slightly, however. Despite what many in the West may believe, China is not confident; it is a developing country, struggling with many very difficult social, political and economic issues which must be addressed within an abbreviated time span that any other nation would find extremely daunting. The terrible killing of the American citizen in Beijing was by a Chinese man who typifies the many, many millions of Chinese who may also feel left behind in the great rush to modernization. For the Chinese government to laugh at this time may appear to the majority of those Chinese who have yet to benefit to be a gesture that is somewhat unsympathetic, callous and at worst elitist. It would be nice for the Western nations to see China laughing, but it behooves the Chinese Communist Party to tread lightly, and particularly when it comes to the Chinese deities, not to tempt fortune by what might seem to be an untimely slight.
Michael Lee
New York City (Aug 12, '08)

[Re Sufism, sodomy and Satan by Spengler, Aug 12] This article is interesting and its perspective on physical love is appealing but it could be misleading. Spengler wrote that "The Judeo-Christian God is known to humankind by revelation, and specifically by self-revelation through love." He then compares the heterosexuality of the Christians and the Jews to the homosexual pederasty of the Sufi. In my opinion, there can be only one God who is always known by revelation through love. In that context love must be a spiritual experience because only minds can truly join. Love, or at least forgiveness or the absence of judgment, is a prerequisite to revelation. The form that loves takes is irrelevant and it loses its usefulness once the function of knowledge has been realized. I know little about "authentic Sufism" but Spengler omitted an important branch well established in North America. The Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge makes little assertion about being a Sufi organization. It started with the efforts of Idris Shah, it continues with the direction of one of his students Robert Ornstein, and the various books that it sells on Sufism can give people a much larger perspective. In a world so deeply entrenched in violence and confused about its own identity it is essential to avoid sensationalism and to focus instead on information likely to increase our understanding.
Robert Bellehumeur
Ottawa (Aug 12, '08)

[Re Sufism, sodomy and Satan by Spengler, Aug 12] I have to say that Spengler, whom I often read with great interest, is waffling out of the top of his head on this one. God has a personality? God is not merely the representation of the best within all of us, but someone out there living in the sky perhaps? Good grief. As a non-Sufi and non-buggerer I think that Spengler had a bit too much communal wine before he wrote this one.
Philip Barton (Aug 12, '08)

Re Lights, cameras - let's get to the sports [Aug 9] by Jesse Fink, please publish my comments. The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics was mind-boggling, dazzling, spell-binding. The amazing display of dancing, music and fireworks will be remembered for many decades. It was a memorable occasion that gave immense pleasure to the billions of watchers all over the world. The occasion was sexy ... watching beautiful, delicate Chinese ladies in exquisitely beautiful dresses and in their dancing routines. I have no words to express my immense joy watching the unique spectacle. But away from the expensive Games costing nearly US$40 billion, ordinary Chinese still live in abject poverty. The growing wealth gap between the Chinese expanding the cities and the rural interior is creating a lot of worries for the communist leadership because of the inequities emerging, not only because of the sudden leap forward but by endemic corruption by officials and illegal expropriation of land.
Saqib Khan
Britain (Aug 11, '08)

M K Bhadrakumar states an old truth in Battle lines move from Kashmir to Kabul [Aug 9]. He sees a reversal of roles in the 60-year shadow play between India and Pakistan. From Pakistan's perspective Washington's alignment with New Delhi is unacceptable, but he is silent on Moscow's support of Islamabad. Here we see the US and Russia switching sides, for in days gone by India had the Soviet Union in its corner, and although Pakistan is still an ally of the US, President George W Bush has sidled up to New Delhi. Overall, the grand game, with a shifting geography, played by New Delhi and Islamabad is a continuation of the enmity borne at the time of partition in 1947, and India's defeat of Pakistan in three wars. What is missing in former ambassador Bhadrakumar's analysis is the internal fragility of Pakistan which risks to unleash forces which only create havoc and rend the social and religious and political fabric of a nation which is at odds with itself. Moral scruples aside, Islamabad should somehow get out from a noose of its own making by seeking closure with New Delhi, which won't be brought down by Pakistan's collapse. There are hardly indistinguishable nuances, but more oft than not nuances do make a difference.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Aug 11, '08)

Very soon, [Pakistani President Pervez] Musharraf is destined to leave. He chose an undignified place for himself in history. [US hopes pinned on Musharraf, Aug 8] He thought usurping power through illegal, unconstitutional means made him owner of the country. The patience of nations should never be underestimated, nor its quiet nature. Let future rulers also keep this in mind and fear the power that never sleeps: that sees you not only in the darkness of night and in the light of day, but also hears your midnight whispers, your unseen, unheard tears.
Warriss Shaw
Samundri (Aug 11, '08)

[Re The anatomy of an Olympic winner, Aug 8] Now now, Chan, so the Indians will strive for excellence only when the prospects of monetary remuneration look promising? I beg to differ. The likelier reasons for India's lackluster performance at the Olympics are those offered by Neeta Lal: a lack of cultural emphasis on athletic endeavors and a shoddy national infrastructure that aims not to produce world-class athletes but is instead beset by cronyism. (India without question is more than financially capable of fielding a better Olympic team; it's more a matter of priority.) In sports, as in just about everything else in life, talent is the single most important factor for being the best. In that regard, the Indians are on the whole as well-endowed as other ethnic groups. Talent, however, is only part of the equation, for regardless of how gifted and motivated an athlete may be, it takes proper training to fully realize his/her latent potential. It is here, the provision of a nurturing environment for its athletes, that India has come up short. That said, and as much as India has lagged in Olympic achievements so far, all is not lost. The fact that the people are embarrassed by their country's poor Olympic showing will likely provide the impetus for change. In the end, though, India's future medal count will more commensurately represent the country's population size and global significance only when a world-class sports program has been put in place. It will no doubt be an arduous task, but as Ms Lal rightly reminded us, "Hope springs eternal." In the meantime, let the Games begin.
John Chen
USA (Aug 8, '08)

This is just to augment Chan Akya's [The anatomy of an Olympic winner, Aug 8]. China has been emphasizing sports since the establishment of People's Republic of China because they want Chinese to feel the need to strengthen their physical power. Chinese had been called "the sick men of Asia". This is a reaction to this humiliation. China is using state-sponsored sports because this is the only way that Chinese with talents for sports have a chance. Chinese have no chance to develop their sports talents relying on their own monetary resources because all of them are too poor to afford that. Using steroids or other enhancing drugs is prohibited in China as well. Violators should be banned for life. I don't have any comment for India as it is Indians' own affair as to what path they want to take to make Indians strong and be ready for the Olympics in the future.
Wendy Cai
USA (Aug 8, '08)

Typically like most Western journalists, Jeff M Smith in India as a US hedge against China [Aug 7] is blinded by his anti-China sentiments. What is notably absent in the Western media is the threat posed by India. If history is any indication, India is dangerously aggressive. It intervened in the "liberation" of Bangladesh, annexed Sikkim, sent its troops into Sri Lanka and Madagascar, not to mention the wars with Pakistan and China. If I remember correctly, it also threatened to intervene in Fiji when ethnic Indian-Fijians were targeted in racial violence. This nation has come a long way since inception and is, in its own right, a "superpower" with big hegemonic ambitions. It has a big standing army, sophisticated airforce, a growing nuclear tipped arsenal and a blue ocean navy. In a second encounter with China, I'd even place my bet on India coming out tops. A hedge against China? Makes more sense the other way around. Doubtful? Ask the South Asian nations around India.
Walter Tseng
Hong Kong (Aug 8, '08)

Concerning your article from August 2, Ukraine clash threatens oil to Europe by Robert M Cutler, please note that there has never been any involvement of Raiffeisen Bank into RosUkrEnergo. Raiffeisen Investment acted as trustee shareholder in RosukrEnergo. The client had been revealed to the public in 2007 and the trusteeship has been dissolved.
Daniela Homan
Vienna (Aug 7, '08)

Raiffeisen Investments was listed on RosUkrEnergo's Swiss registration documents as equal partner in the venture with ARosgas Holding (a subsidiary of Gazprombank). It later emerged in the press that Raiffeisen Investments managed the portfolio for Ukrainian businessmen who at the time retained anonymity but were later publicly named. This relationship continued through all of 2006, the context in which my article mentioned the company, although the phrasing could have been clearer. Despite an Interfax report dated August 6, 2004, that Raiffeisen Bank would participate in a coordinating committee running RosUkrEnergo, and despite the Austrian RZE Group's ownership of both Raiffeisen Investments and Raiffeisen Bank, there was no direct management link between the two latter. I regret the imprecision. - Robert Cutler (Aug 7, '08)

[Re Israeli pre-emption better than Islamist cure, Aug 5] Does Spengler love the four horseman of the Apocalypse? Because that is what "surgical strikes" in a powder keg will beget. The only beneficiaries will be the weapons industries.
Carlos Zarate
USA (Aug 7, '08)

[Re Israeli pre-emption better than Islamist cure, Aug 5] Best analysis I have read on the Middle East situation. Thanks.
Pat Miller (Aug 7, '08)

[Re Israeli pre-emption better than Islamist cure, Aug 5] I resolved to ignore Spengler ... but peeked through fingers and saw him advocating hostility to set Iran's nuclear program back "a few years". To sell this he brews a perfect storm of militant Islamism threatening no less than "eight figure" carnage against a backdrop of think-tankesque history and geography. As usual, the package is so exquisitely contrived that if it weren't so repulsive one might call it confectionery. Without Zionists and imperialists feeling legitimated by Spengler, as bestowing peace and mercy through pre-emptively liberating the Middle East from itself, he would lack an audience. What makes him completely superfluous is the redundancy of encouragement to that rabid syndicate.
Alsopseudonymous
Australia (Aug 7, '08)

[Re Israeli pre-emption better than Islamist cure, Aug 5] A better solution would be for the US to withdraw all aid to Israel ...
John Parsons (Aug 7, '08)

[Re Israeli pre-emption better than Islamist cure, Aug 5] As so often before, Spengler's latest illustrates the views of that famous Anatolian, St Paul: when you judge another, you condemn yourself (Romans, 2:1). His list of countries about to go Islamist reminds me of the old domino theory about communism and Southeast Asia. Moreover, it is clearly the US that is trying to relive the glories of World War II, and getting the horrors of Vietnam.
Lester Ness
Kunming, China (Aug 7, '08)

Peter Vail's fawning piece on [Alexander] Solzhenitsyn [Before the prophet, the writer, Aug 6] makes the serious mistake of confusing works that stand out merely for their political value with works of true literary accomplishment. As author and blogger Richard North, who read his books in the original Russian, and certainly no misty-eyed apologist of the Soviet Empire, points out, if it weren't for Solzhenitsyn's editors, his works would not have become as popular as they did. Even the unedited text of his first and most accomplished work of fiction One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (which Solzhenitsyn published later on), was, according to North, an "unwieldy piece of prose". But the sad truth is that confessions and memoirs whose importance lies in their relevance to the politics of the times continue to be confused with literary merit, so that a writer of the stature of Vladimir Nabokov, who built his reputation on works of fiction, is passed over for the Nobel, as was Jorge Luis Borges for merely shaking the hand of [Chilean dictator Augusto] Pinochet.
Carlos from Ecuador (Aug 6, '08)

The Bush administration looks at life through rose tinted glasses. Where others see serious signs of economic trouble, it finds comfort in the fact that the US economy continues to grow, the mortgage crisis, the drying up of liquidity, failing banks, rising fuel and food prices, and declining consumer spending notwithstanding. Martin Hutchinson [The collapse of consumer spending, Aug 6] is right to challenge this vanilla pudding view of the state of the economy. He has plenty of facts to bolster his argument. Had he read former US Fed chief Alan Greenspan's op-ed in today's Financial Times, he would simply say that here is proof positive that mainstream economists are way off the pier for dealing with a very troubled US economy. Greenspan calls for abstinence in calling for regulation in the market place, and what's more, comes up with a pie-in-the-sky bit of psycho-babble affirming that "market capital is is being pilloried but the cause of our despair is humanity's propensity to sway from fear to euphoria and back". Well, wise old owl, tell that to a homeowner worrying about how he's going to meet his next mortgage payment or the mom who has to feed her family of four on a limited budget with a husband out of work, or a worker who has to spend $100 a week to fill his gas guzzler so that he can get to work.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Aug 6, '08)

[Re Israeli pre-emption better than Islamist cure, Aug 5] What is Spengler thinking of in advocating pre-emptive war? Didn't he learn anything from the Bush debacles? Doesn't he appreciate the ethical error of pre-emptive war? Or is it that he likes death, disaster and derision?
Tom Gerber
USA (Aug 5, '08)

Spengler's latest Israeli pre-emption better than a cure [Aug 5] reads both as senescent and vaudevillian schtick. His next-to-last paragraph includes statements such as "Israel is the only player in the region with the perspicacity and power to stop the slide towards regional war" ... but it " may not have the capacity to eradicate Iran's nuclear development program, but set it back for a number of years. If it can find a von Shlieffen ...". Obviously, he has given up on [Benjamin] Netanyahu who was quoted in this morning's Haaretz as charging, "Kadima is selling Jerusalem to the enemy". Both the senescent and vaudevillian shtick is quite manifest in Spengler's statement that "If Israel fails to act, the near-certain outcome will be regional war on a scale dwarfing the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s." Whoa there, Spenglerino, do you imply it will not dwarf the cakewalk into Iraq that was planned and programmed by the [in]famous neo-cons to last a few months and cost a couple of billion instead of the $3 trillion it already cost? I, for one, think that suckering the US again into the fantasy world of Spengler's Israel ain't gonna happen.
Armand De Laurell (Aug 5, '08)

[Re Sex and politics in Malaysia, Aug 5] If things go as planned, Anwar Ibrahim will easily win the Permatang Pauh constituency from which his wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail has stepped down in her husband's favor. But we are talking about Malaysia where even the best-laid plans are never certain. Once again, the axe of sodomy is hanging over Anwar's head, and as Anil Netto suggests, the authorities will move before the election to jail him, thereby eliminating a powerful challenger to the United Malays National Organization (UNMO) which has been in power since Malaysia's independence a half-century ago. Also, UNMO is rent with factions and it is corrupt and its own leaders are tarred with the brush of criminality ... Finally, popular protest among the Chinese and Indian minorities, and growing discontent among Malays do not make for a stable country. UNMO surely will try to rig upcoming elections so that it will maintain a shaky hand on the reins of government. Any means will serve its ends. Thus, not only is Malaysia's future bleak, but its leaders are willing to sacrifice the country's future to remain in power. As such, we have a classical formula for disaster.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Aug 5, '08)

So Dennis O'Connell [letters, Aug 5] thinks that America is too forgiving of capitalist evil. I don't disagree. But since America is built on lies and exploitation, how can it be otherwise? A country established by a bunch of slave-owners under a "banner of freedom" that is spreading that freedom around the world by murder and corruption - how can a country like that be anything other than a "den of thieves" in itself and expected to be fair? It can't. If Mr O'Connell is older than 7 years - and I think he must be, since he knows exactly that slaves were pricey and thus must have lived in excellent conditions and treated as well as people treat their Manhattan digs - then he should be able to do better next time. I'm glad that Americans hold no ill will towards Russians (apart from conducting anti-Russian foreign policy, making them into primitive villains in barely watchable evening shows, and hating them quietly since shooting them in the nearest mall or on the battlefield isn't an option - too far or too strong for that). I feel compelled to assure Dennis O'Connell that the feeling is mutual. We have no particular dislike of an average Joe. Or an average Dennis for that matter. In an ideal world we'd love nothing better than to have nothing to do with them whatsoever, but in a real one these wretches still keep pretending to be somehow superior to the rest of mankind, so we'll just have to remind them of what they really are from time to time, ultimately for their own good. I'm glad that Mr O'Connell thinks that Americans made the Internet possible, although the whole thing was invented in Switzerland, by Europeans. Even in America large portions of those Internet patents were due to talent imported from India, China and - yes - Russia. It's also good to know that at least someone can provide some facts about Putin's billions. Hopefully, Dennis O'Connell can tell us where they are, since nobody else has ever documented Vladimir Putin taking as much as a penny in bribes. ... The collapse of the USSR was the happiest day of my life. My friends and I made it possible. But then we saw America coming in and proclaiming our victory to be theirs (over us!), just like they did in World War II (thanks for the trucks and thanks for nothing, Dennis). I'm sure that in Mr O'Connell's world, killing people by making them sick is more humane than shooting them in the head, just like winning the Super Bowl makes the winner a bona-fide "world champion". For the rest of us, however, such logic is laughable, in a tragic sense of the word. Just like the whole of America.
Raskatin
Russia (Aug 5, '08)

Hello, the second page of the latest essay Living through the age of denial from Engelhardt, whose writings are a Sisyphus-like endeavor against the self-appointed US gods that accumulate world power in their greedy hands, is missing. Please let me know when it is reinstated. Kind regards from Switzerland to the ATol staff.
Dr Bittar Gabriel
University of Geneva (Aug 4, '08)

Yes, we were experiencing some technical glitches. Everything is now fixed. Thanks for the note. - ATol

In regard to Raskatin's letter about John Browne's article The cost of socialism, Aug 1, Raskatin seems to want to defend socialism and I suppose the former Soviet Union. However, the whole premise of Mr Browne's article is wrong, bailing out corrupt greedy businessmen with public funds is not socialism, it is stupidity. The subprime mortgage collapse is merely a repeat of the saving and loan scandal of the late 80s on a much larger scale. The fact that 99.99% of the criminal thieves of the late 80s were never made to account for their crimes, emboldened this latest group of criminals. America seems to have adapted a policy of finding no one guilty for massive crimes and incompetence that does tremendous damage to the country. No one was found responsible the massive failures that led up to 9/11 or the debacle in Iraq. This will be the doom of America. I can't remember who wrote the line that a soldier losing his rifle is treated more harshly than a general losing a war. In fact, the American news media has never even asked General Franks about his failures that led to the disaster in Iraq and the same is true about L Paul Bremer. Raskatin seems to have a visceral hatred of the US. However, I am sure he has never visited America and bases his conclusions on the propaganda of his youth. Americans are not hard working and don't produce? Does he know about the $11 billion in aid the US gave to the Soviet Union during World War II? That aid included over 350,000 trucks and 21,000 airplanes and they were not built by slaves or Mexicans. The aid came to over 36 billion pounds of supplies delivered in approximately 4 and a half years. If Raskatin blames the US for the collapse of the Soviet Union he should study Yegor Gaidar, the former prime minister of Russia. The collapse of the Soviet Union was caused by the collapse of oil prices in the 80s and the failure of Soviet agriculture to feed the people of the USSR. It had nothing to do with Ronald Reagan or the CIA. If he wants someone to blame that would be Sheikh Yamani of Saudi Arabia. As for American competitiveness look no further than the Internet. If it took 100 inventions to make the Internet possible - from the personal computer to software to servers - those are American inventions, certainly not Soviet. As to the deaths of millions of native Americans, more than 90% were by disease not warfare. The cost of slaves was not cheap: a young fit male cost anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000; the cost of a nice home in Manhattan. Slavery in America was agricultural. However, the wealth of America had far more to do with the factories of the North than the cotton or tobacco farms of the South. As for America being bad at sports, the US led the world in the last Olympics in medals and the US does not have a state program spending billions on sports training like the former USSR or China. Raskatin would do better to spend his time trying to improve Russia than tearing down the US. I just read that 20% of the most expensive homes in London are being sold to Russians. Putin has looted $40 billion from the Russian economy and 70% of the Russians love him. I don't know whether the US is blessed by God. However, judging by the 70 million Russians that died in the last century you should wonder if Russia is cursed, and what the Russian people can do to make life better for the vast majority of Russians and not just your billionaire kleptomaniac rulers. The American people hold no ill will towards Russia. However, I don't believe the same can be said about many Russians.
Dennis O'Connell
USA (Aug 4, '08)

Leaving office in September under a cloud of scandal, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is a bellwether of a broken Israel, beset by sexual peccadillos and corruption and malfeasance. Yet, Olmert's Kadima party will remain power, as Peter Hirschberg suggests in Israel picks up the pieces. If Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is chosen to succeed Olmert at the party's conference, the Israeli public may have a reason to hope that a new broom will sweep out the shady past of Israeli politics and order and honesty will be restored. No one in the ruling government wants to call for an election since the odds are on the more right-wing Likud party's Benjamin Netanyahu once again seizing power, and reinstating an aggressive, hardline regional policy, and torpedoing any negotiations with the Palestinian Authority on a peace treaty and carrying out sustained military action against Hamas in Gaza, as well as accelerating illegal Jewish settlements on the West Bank. With Likud in power, the strong shekel may suffer and other untoward consequences of a strengthening economy may surely follow. Olmert's departure puts negotiation with Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] into limbo. With Livni as prime minister the on-again off-again negotiations with the Palestinians will go on but without closure. For she has cut her political teeth in Betar Likud's youth branch and before she joined Ariel Sharon's Kadima party, she was a hardliner on dealing with Palestinians. She has softened her approach but hardly the goal of Zionism which is to absorb into the state of Israel all land from the Mediterranean to the Jordan river. But she would allow a few islands of reduced land to the Palestinian Authority and allow it self governance on a restricted menu of local law enforcement. In the end, Kadima won't be able to glue back all the tiles of an Israeli mosaic, for the country is rent with too many contradictions and factions and insecurity.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Aug 4, '08)

Mr Browning begins his Iraq's 'surge' has its limits [July 31] by assigning both "the surge" and the lessening of bombings ... to General David Petraeus and ends with recommending the application of "the surge" in Afghanistan. With specific reference to "the surge" - which ironically was initially proposed by a Frederick Kagan who according to several websites never donned a military uniform or led troops in combat and is primarily a historian of Eastern European studies - the words "the surge" have acquired an almost ethereal status of the comic book character "The Hulk". Credit for the lessening of deaths in Baghdad is more due to the erection of 10-foot concrete walls around neighborhoods rather than the advent of the "surge". In addition to moderating Iranian influences. Mr Browning's commentary is basically a justifying thesis for increasing the level of American troops in Afghanistan. If "surges" were the sole pivots around which military control were the keys to victory then the USSR would still be in Afghanistan and the US would still be in control of Vietnam. Obviously Mr Browning is an aficionado of General Petraeus. And, by the way, there is nothing wrong with that.
Armand DeLaurell (Aug 1, '08)

It's funny that John Browne in The cost of socialism [Aug 1] thinks that America's wealth is "hard-earned". Funny, but absolutely not true. While some Americans undoubtedly work hard for their money, on the whole America's economic trajectory is the clearest illustration of the "easy come, easy go" formula, on a national scale. Americans never had it hard, not once. Even the Great Depression was relatively shallow and short-lived event, yet Americans still shiver when it's mentioned even briefly. America's wealth is a direct byproduct of savage colonization (how hard is it to kill natives armed with sticks and arrows, when you have guns?), slavery (how hard is it to buy slaves, when they are sold for peanuts and brought in by the thousands?), European self-immolation of the 20th century (how hard is it to build factories when most of the the gold bullion and human talent were shipped to America to finance European wars) and exploitation of illegal migrants (how hard is it to pay $5 for $20 worth of work?). America's wealth resulted from other people's nightmares, not from diligence and sacrifice. Of all the countries in the world, Americans had the easiest go at it. All their fake smiles and phony friendliness are derivatives of that ease. That's why Americans think they are blessed by God. That's why they call their country "the land of milk and honey", not "the land of sweat and back-breaking labor". Things just seemed to fall out of the sky. No effort needed, just a weekly prayer. Everything should be fun, or Americans won't bother. Their youngsters believe they are entitled to good life by simply being born in America. Hard work? That's for Chinese and Indians. Needless to say, this "American utopia" is over and done with, and the truly hard slog is only beginning for the US. All those ridiculous ratings proclaiming America "the world's most competitive nation" for the last 15-20 years were bogus and probably designed by Americans themselves (too bad designing a good car is harder). Even after 50% debasement of their currency Americans still can't increase exports of anything except corn, soy beans and recycled paper. Americans simply can't compete. Playing sports nobody else is interested in, then proclaiming themselves "world champions" upon winning domestic championship is their idea of competitive success. In the real world, however, self-congratulations won't do. Welcome to the real world.
Raskatin
Russia (Aug 1, '08)

Regarding the article Al-Qaeda hails 'revival' in Afghanistan [Aug 1], I have read many articles of the build up of al-Qaeda, Taliban and outside jihadis joining in what would be a bloodbath either against the NATO forces or the Pakistani military or both. The biggest mistake Pakistan can do is to redeploy troops to the age-old conflict with India on Pakistan's eastern border. The Kashmir issue has been by and large "settled" and up until now there has been no major border conflicts between India and Pakistan. If Pakistan is willing to give up the ghost on her western border when it is simmering for an all-out war and deploy them to a region of relative peace then Pakistan is leaving her western borders to be fully taken and possibly annexed from Pakistan. Bad move.
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
Clinton, USA (Aug 1, '08)

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