[Re Fascist banking, May 17] That was an interesting quote from David Goldman: "This is 'control without ownership', or fascism, rather than socialism." Wouldn't it be interesting for Spengler to elaborate on and unpack that idea? On the face of it, of course, this phrase is an oxymoron. Brushing aside the legal niceties, control is ownership. To own something one exercises dominion over it. So what's the real difference between communism and fascism? That the former monopolizes political and economic power in the name of the people and the latter in the name of an oligarchy? In Rome, where fascism originates, all state functions were privatized. Doesn't that just mean the state is simply a narrow oligarchy? And isn't it interesting the way the last century has played out? In the West fascism won. In the east communism lost. I guess the world is going to end up being a lot more like ancient Rome than anyone ever imagined.
Francis Chow
Quebec, Canada (May 18, '10)


[Re Beijing changes tune on nuclear Kim, May 17] Has it been proven that the Cheonan was indeed sunk by a torpedo from a North Korean submarine when lots of ships were in the vicinity participating in a war game? There was another theory indicating that it was sunk by friendly fire. Unless it was proven, does Dr Lam think it is proper for China to criticize North Korea?
Wendy Cai
United States (May 18, '10)


[Re Russia opens a new pipeline of diplomacy, May 14] Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev's meeting with Hamas leader Khalid Meshaal in Damascus has raised a red flag in Israel. To Israeli Prime Minister "Bib" Netanyahu it appears that Medvedev has adopted a Soviet line of diplomacy in supporting a Palestinian party which Israel is intent in destroying by any means necessary. Medvedev's intentions may be neutral in the sense of wanting the ''roadmap to peace'' to proceed at a faster clip. Overall, it looks as though by forcing the issue of Israeli Hamas dialogue, he has fed Israel's rejectionist stand in the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (May 17, '10)


[Re Russia opens a new pipeline of diplomacy, May 14] Once again thanks are due to Ambassador Bhadrakumar for an analysis of the Asian geopolitical situation. It is a pity that we in Europe do not have access to such articles in our own press, which still seems to regard the United States as the navel of the universe.
M Henri Day
Sweden (May 17, '10)


[Re US satellites shadow China's submarines, May 12] The Southeast Asian press is full of articles on China's naval ambitions and expansion. China is edging up on the US navy; it has 260 ships, 26 shy of the total of the US. No longer restricted to protecting its coast, China has broadened its horizon outwards: first to protect what it perceives its territorial imperatives and sovereign rights in the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea. As China's trade expands, and its appetite for primary materials increases, it is expanding its navy to protect its rights on the high sea, and seeking safe ports in countries along the way - not unlike the Dutch, the United Kingdom, and the Americans. Little wonder the US is using satellites to track China's naval developments which under the guise, at times, of commercial pursuits, disguise military operations which is already disturbing the balance of power in its own neighborhood.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (May 14, '10)


Thanks for the advice, Lester Ness. A distinction should be made between David Goldman the economics analyst and his Doppelganger twin, Spengler the religious commentator. Due in part to his previous experience on Wall Street, I have found David Goldman to be an insightful market observer. On the other hand, religious beliefs are usually not the product of purely intellectual endeavors and are in fact heavily influenced by emotion and other factors. I plead guilty to concerning myself mostly with matters I can perceive while leaving debates on what can not be proved to others.
John Chen
United States (May 14, '10)


[Re Superpower dreams interrupted, May 12] Sisci's latest article is certainly interesting but several counterpoints must be made, especially in regards to his point: ''Still, even if China were to catch up in military technology, one wonders whether it would have the intellectual freedom necessary for the research innovation needed to manufacture effective and ground-breaking technology that would lead Beijing to be a giant in this sphere, as the US presently is''. Intellectual freedom doesn't always guarantee scientific breakthroughs-more often than not, the need for a technology compels its very research and creation, intellectual freedom or none. Take for example, Fritz Haber's discovery of the Haber process that synthesizes ammonia in the non-liberal democracy of the Second Reich; similarly, in modern China, scientific development in the material sciences - key to weapons and technological development - is more or less unfettered in the People's Republic of China as opposed to the reported lack of intellectual freedom in the humanities, for the very utilitarian reason that there is a definite need for such technological research in this era of globalization and climate change.
Hank
Australia (May 13, '10)


[Re US satellites shadow China's submarines, May 12] This was a very interesting article. If the East China Sea is as shallow as the author indicates, then Chinese submarines would be easily detectable by Synthetic Aperture Radar. The wakes show up as bright trails, similar to jet contrails, on the satellite images and they persist for many hours. Wake-less propulsion systems are possible, based on the motions of swimming fish and also by gliding through the water by using a bladder to alternately move up and down (while simultaneously gliding across). But there are no reports of anyone's submarines with such propulsion systems. Interestingly, traditional Chinese boats were often propelled by skulling, and fish-like rudder motions, rather than, as in the West, by rowing (wake generating), paddling (wake generating) or spinning propellers (wake generating).
Francis
Quebec, Canada (May 13, '10)


[Re Ignore Keynes behind the arras, May 10] "But as Spengler said, 'The markets have seen the man behind the curtain'." - John Chen
Spengler is also the guy who thought the Dark Ages were the Roman Empire, that Arabic language didn't exist before Mohammad (centuries of graffiti to the contrary), that Judaism and Christianity are the same thing (2000 millennia of rhetoric to the contrary) and lots of other "the world is flat" type howlers. Don't believe anything Spengler says; he is purely for entertainment.
Lester Ness
Changchun
China (May 13, '10)


[Re In denial about North Korea, May 11] I am afraid the ones who are in denial are the author and others who still see the world from that good old perspective. Do they really believe that China is going to allow the development in North Korea to go in the direction that will maintain or enhance the United States' strategic position in East Asia? Do they really believe that the United State of America can maintain its dominance in East Asia to the same degree as it did before while embarking on and keeping the fast pace in its expansion further into West Asia and Central Asia? In short, do they really believe that the 21st century belongs to a hegemonic United State of America?
Jim
Singapore (May 13, '10)


[ In denial about North Korea, May 11] While I agree with Aidan Foster-Carter that the six-party talks are a waste of time and never will get Kim Jong-il to give up his nukes, I disagree on several other points. Foster-Carter agrees that the sunshine policy of 10 years of leftist rule in South Korea was a complete failure; he disagrees with Presidents Lee Myung-bak's policy of greatly reduced aid until the North begins to change its behavior. I also believe the South will be forced to take action against the sinking of the Cheonan. The South does over a billion dollars worth of trade with the North on a yearly basis. That can be cut back by half as punishment for the sinking. By still keeping $500 million worth of trade so as to possibly constrain the North in the future, similar action could lead to the cut off of all trade. South Korea also has a better military and could use special forces to secretly sink a North Korean ship several months from now as a further warning to the North. As for contingency plans on the North's collapse, he believes the US, South Korea and China should work together. However, China's aims are completely different to those of the US or South Korea. China wants a totalitarian vassal state, while the US and South Korea would like to see a democracy with a more pro-Western outlook. China's contingency plan for the collapse is to send hundreds of North Korean defectors and Chinese Koreans into the North with hundreds of millions of dollars to buy the loyalty of the Northern elites to set up that vassal state. The only way that state could stay in power, however, is by continuing the terror against the people of the North. I also agree with Foster-Carter in his condemnation of the South Koreans for their complete lack of concern for their fellow Koreans. The North is set on a path to destruction that will have very serious implications for the entire world. While there is no policy that can bribe, threaten or sweet talk the Kim family regime to change its insane behavior, the best policy is to reward good behavior and punish bad behavior. Sixty years of rewarding bad behavior by the North has brought us to the terrible position we are in now.
Dennis O'Connell
United States (May 12, '10)


[ In denial about North Korea, May 11] Sorry, North Korea will not go away. The US and South Korea are like the proverbial ostrich: heads in the sand. Instead of brandishing sharp warnings or proferring threats which they cannot realistically carry out, it would behove them to talk turkey with Pyongyang, and look to resolve outstanding issues going back 60 years to the Korean war. Dragging feet in Washington and Seoul simply compounds the standoff. Nor does it pay for senior US think-tank analysts to challenge China's good offices in dealing with North Korea. Quite frankly, the US and Seoul have two left feet in dealing with North Korea.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (May 12, '10)


[Re Keynesian Waterloo, May 7] With respect, I must object to the widespread idea that somehow John Maynard Keynes advocated mindless government deficit spending regardless of circumstance. Keynes was one of the most flexibly minded, pragmatic, and complex economists ever. Before you judge him, at least read The Economic Consequences of the Peace and his General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money.
Keynes did argue that, left to themselves, markets are not infallibly efficient (read the latest headlines: DUH!) but can get stuck in a vicious cycle of low demand and underproduction. IN SUCH SPECIFIC CIRCUMSTANCES, it can help to have a government TEMPORARILY stimulate real demand for real goods and services to prime the pump.
But the notion that Keynes would have advocated that governments conduct massive deficit spending so as to re-inflate speculative bubbles and make whole people and banks who lost money gambling in financial derivatives, while layering a vast debt-burden on society as a whole, is absurd. This is one of the things that Keynes argued against! There is simply no way that he would have supported what is going on now. I recall his saying that what is needed is not mere savings, but actual investment in real jobs and real production: which is NOT what governments are doing now. So there is no way that the problems we face can be in any way attributed to a failure of 'Keynesianism' - which is anyhow not a formula but a style of thought.
There is so much more to Keynes that this just scratches the surface. One of his enduring themes is that no amount of financial manipulation can make impossible things happen, and that one must always look not just at the financial balance sheets of a country, but it's real productive power. If Keynes were alive today, I am certain that one of the things he would be speaking out on would be the coming collision between a world population that is growing by 100 million ever year (thanks to previous cheap-labor, high population-growth policies) and a global ability to produce food that has been stagnant for about a decade now, and for which there are no obvious means of increasing (no Virginia, genetically modified foods do not substantially increase overall crop yields). This is just one of the many aspects of an economy about which Keynes argued passionately, but which is almost completely lacking in modern economists... Or his classic quote "in the long run we are all dead". It is typically meant to convey a sense of futility. Wrong! Keynes was arguing against a laissez-faire approach to economics: the claim that ''in the long run" the market will police itself was countered with the "in the long run we are all dead" quote, followed by commentary that this is a completely useless philosophy: we need to act to solve our problems now, not sit on our hands waiting however many centuries it may or may not take for the market to solve them ...
John Maynard Keynes: so usually mis-cited, so rarely wrong.
Timothy Gawne (May 12, '10)

The point is correct in some ways in that Keynes did prove to be correct on a few counts. That said, we live in a world of black and white, our television channels apparently cannot do gray very well, or - if you listen to Fox News - at all. Keynes' ideology and prescriptions were meant for a specific time in our history and for very different conditions to those that persist in Europe and the US today. The ones who propose it though choose to hide behind the rich tapestry of Keynes' work; therefore essentially forcing anyone who opposes them to take potshots at Keynes in order to hit the targets.
That said, in my personal opinion there is much not to recommend about Keynes per se. His place in history may be assured but, in my humble opinion, is almost entirely undeserved for he proposed solutions that almost by definition could not stand the test of time, thereby rendering his "general" theories questionable to say the least. In my personal pantheon of great economic thinkers, I find it relatively easy to jump from Adam Smith all the way to Ludwig von Mises and Ferdinand Hayek. The likes of Keynes and Galbraith, while entertaining, have neither the academic rigor nor the real-world application that I seek. Among modern economists, I find John Kay a close approximation of the kind of pragmatic, real-world economist that Keynes may have aspired to but never achieved.
Chan Akya (May 12, '10)


In response to Chenliyen's comments [May 10] on my most recent article Keynesian Waterloo [May 7], I wish to clarify that there was no intention on my part to project the banking system as having altruistic motives in providing mortgages to the under-privileged of America. Rather, they had been mandated to extend credit to various classes of poor people with poor scores and "thin files" (euphemism for inadequate credit history). Being essentially forced to make such loans by successive presidents through amendments to the Community Reinvestment Act and related anti-predatory lending laws, banks made the loans and then tried to move the credit risk element of the loans by packaging them into collateralized debt obligations that were distributed to local and foreign suckers ... I mean, investors. It just so happened that the music stopped a tad too early, leaving the banks holding a lot of such mortgages that they hadn't been able to sell down to investors. The feverish activity in late 2006 and early 2007 was all about moving these assets from banking books; there was fear among the banks and greed among investors - a perfect recipe if there was one, for shady activities (what I wrote about in Goldman and the charade of honesty, April 20).
Chan Akya (May 11, '10)


[Re Ignore Keynes behind the arras, May 10] Unfortunately, the world is caught between a rock and a hard place over the current financial predicament: let countries like Greece go bankrupt, and the world economy (maybe even the world) could collapse like a house of cards; pump artificial money into the global system to delay the day of reckoning, and the outcome will be exponentially worse when the inevitable finally happens. Sadly, the history of politics shows that governments will do whatever it takes to delay the pain by throwing good money after bad. But as Spengler said, "The markets have seen the man behind the curtain", and when the poop one day hits the fan, the ensuing global turmoil will make the 2008 financial crisis look like a sunny day at the beach.
John Chen
USA (May 11, '10)


[Re Obama's choice: Blood or treasure?May 10] US President Barack Obama has decided to put an end to the tweedle-dee-tweedle-dum policy toward the Israel-Palestine question. Through indirect talks, aided and abetted by his special envoy George Mitchell, Obama is quietly pushing the two parties to a solution of his choosing. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is fearful of this, since his wings are being quietly clipped. He has little or no choice to oppose the will of the White House; he has had a rude awakening - the US's foreign policy objectives do differ from Israel's. And Israel is a client of the US. More broadly speaking, with two US wars on Obama's plate, the situation calls for solving old problems at the same time the American president is looking to disengage in a way which will protect US interests in West, Central, and South Asia. Israel is now a burden on one hand and a loose cannon on the other. A two-state solution will cut it down to size.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (May 11, '10)


In Obama's choice: Blood or treasure? [May 10], we are illuminated by perceptions of the current and past US Middle East policy and exactly why it has taken its course. In particular, I am warmed by one conclusion towards the end. Ira Chernus informs us "The alternative, truly life-saving course would be to drop the hysterical fear-mongering about Iran and its as-yet-nonexistent bomb, while insisting on a viable, contiguous, independent Palestinian state, with guarantees of security for both Palestine and Israel ... ". Whilst I may hope and pray, such common-sense assessments depicted in this excellent article will never actually bear fruition. As usual, too many vested interests, including the Pentagon, are against peace at any price.
Ian C Purdie
Sydney, Australia (May 11, '10)


[Re Keynesian Waterloo, May 7, '10] I always enjoy reading Chan Akya's column, but must take exception to one thesis he proclaimed in his latest article where he said: " … much as the US subprime crisis was about extending credit to the under-privileged in society ... ". Come on Chan, you don't really believe there is real benevolence among US institutions don't you? The subprime crisis was about real estate and mortgage agents being given the opportunity to sell houses and make commissions by the Greenspan liquidity bubble, with the mushrooming of "mortgage" offices in strip-malls giving the impression of economic growth and prosperity for incumbent politicians to win re-election. It also gave big-fish financiers (alias Wall Street) the chance to show ephemeral paper gains on balance sheets to claim their billion dollar bonuses. Oh, the institutions knew very well how it would all end; that's why Wall Street banks, instead of owning up to their conviction and holding the loans, bundled these poisonous offers into flimsy securities and sold them to investors who were seeing things through smoke and mirrors while the politicians and regulators close an eye to allow it to happen. However, Chan was right about this being no different from the German and French selling cars, cheese and wines, in addition to houses too, to not-yet-rich Europeans. It's only been virtual economic growth on both sides of the Atlantic.
Chenliyen
Wisconsin, USA (May 10, '10)


[Re Explosive evidence ignites Korean tensions, May 7, 2010] Tensions have remained high on the Korean peninsula since South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office. His policy towards the North was and is no charm offensive. Seoul petitioning China to punish Pyongyang for the sinking of the corvette Cheonan is a clear indication of the weakness of Lee's bluster. He is in no position to "ignite" a war on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the opening salvos of the Korean war. The US won't sanction it. Kim Jong-il has ended a "successful" visit to Beijing. The Chinese authorities have the wrong concessions from him. They are in no mood to inflict any public punishment on North Korea. Where does that leave Lee? For all his hardline talk, he now has to wipe the egg off his face.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (May 10, '10)


[Re Nepalis see red over Maoist strike, May 7, '10] Extending the new constitution's deadline would be a bad decision. What Nepalis need now is a fresh election. It's true that the Maoists won 40% of Constituent Assembly seats in the last election, but by now Nepalis have seen that bringing them into the peace process and mainstream politics was a mistake. All three major parties have had a chance in the government in the two-year period since the assembly began its work but none have proved capable of keeping it stable or doing the job it was meant to do - draft the new constitution. Strangely, as soon as the Maoists were no longer in government, the party began promoting anti-Indian feelings. When they were in power they wouldn't take a step against India, even going to the extreme of justifying moves towards India (for example, Maoist leader Prachanda's first trip was to the Beijing Summer Olympics, but he justified this by saying his first political trip would be to India). Fact is, anti-Indian feelings can buy popularity with a Nepali public tired of Indian interference, and that's exactly what each party does when they are not in the government. An election after May 28 along with a referendum is the way to go for Nepal.
S Maharjan
Canada (May 10, '10)


[Re Vatican, Vietnam sacrifice a holy man , May 6] It is perhaps a sign of the Vatican's moral decrepitude that the betrayal of Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet comes 30 years after the murder of Cardinal Oscar Romero, the archbishop of El Salvador. Like Kiet, Romero fought injustice by speaking out against the murderous junta General Arturo Molina whose own son organized Romero's assassination. He condemned the deaths and disappearances carried out by the military, set up human rights organizations, asked the US government to suspend military aid to El Salvador while at the same time he had a strong distrust of radicalism and the mysticism of violence by the left. He had no ideology except that of the fundamental dignity of the human being, once asking plainly in a sermon the men of the armed forces to simply obey the law of God: ''Before any order given by a man, the law of God must prevail: 'You shall not kill!'… In the name of God I pray you, I beseech you, I order you! Let this repression cease!''
Karol Wojtyla, Pope John Paul II, called Romero's death tragic. Compared to his attacks on the progressive Catholic church of Latin America, this was extremely tame. And now his former henchman Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, continues his work attacking any element in his church that would bring positive change to people's lives. This includes investigating three orders of nuns for feminism and activism while trying sweep the child abuse and nun rape scandals under the rug. It is not surprising that Pentecostalism and Protestantism are taking away South American Catholics while in Asia, Catholics like myself increasingly hold the Pope in contempt. Kiet should be comforted that while the Vatican has betrayed him, his congregation and people all around the world will respect him and his deeds.
Paul Vincent
Kerala, India (May 7, '10)


How can one believe the United States on anything? It attacked Afghanistan on the pretext of the 9/11 attacks emanating from there, though the Taliban had no hand in it. All the pilots belonged to either Saudi Arabia or Egypt but they did not invade these countries but Afghanistan. Similarly in Iraq, Saddam Hussein did not kill a fly in the United States, UK or Europe, but they attacked Iraq, destroyed it and killed or mutilated hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians and illegally occupied Iraq and Afghanistan though naked aggression and regional traitors and toadies. Pakistan is regularly "droned" to kill Talibans created by them in ''now infamous Mudrassas'' during the Afghan-Soviet Union war - and so al-Qaeda and Osama bin Ladin as Mujhadeens. The new issue is Faisal Shehzad, an American. Who knows what is the truth about him? Omarani
London, UK (May 7, '10)


[Re Give us back the German empire, May 5] Which empire is Francesco Sisci thinking of? The second German empire or the third? Herr Hitler's Dritte Reich brought the Greeks a long German occupation, and the Second World War. More to the point, the euro countries permitted a Greece into their club in spite of the fact that it had a history of deficits in 1981. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan helped hide the Greeks' financial troubles off the books and allowed Greece to cook balance sheets. Additionally, the euro currency union had no safety value or rules for its members to intervene in the case of a member's default. A default would have serious consequences for all its 16 members one way or the other. Today we see what havoc that oversight has led to.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (May 6, '10)


[Re China leery of Sarkozy's outstretched hand, May 4] The title itself is revealing. It implies that China as a country collectively distrusts the intention of the head of state of a major Western country. I don't doubt that a large fraction in the general populace in China still distrusts the West, but one should not presume that the top Chinese leadership views trust as pivotal. The Western attitude toward China is understood, if only incompletely, to be based on a complex and evolving mix derived from Western social progress and the increasing salience of China's existence and advances. In regard to China, there is genuine moral struggle inside the mind of every Western head of state, who also has to manage divergence of opinions within his or her government. Manifested inconsistencies stem from such struggle within a mind and within a government.
Likely the CIA's involvement with the Tibetans decades earlier was motivated by geopolitics, to undermine the communist regime that Washington did not recognize as China. Today, Western sympathy for Tibet is based on (misguided as I believe) selective consideration of the lack of freedom of expression and the endearment of the Tibetan culture. This in turn stems from Western social progress: the amelioration of racism. Sarkozy's moral struggle on the Tibetan issue could have so started, but may have later concluded with the question of how French is Sarkozy? If a Sarkozy can be French, a Tsering can be Chinese. What thrills Sarkozy in courtship and marriage? To be caged in by traditional culture, or the most desirable woman of any race, creed or culture? Is "cultural genocide" the dreaded execution of a culture or is it the most satisfying human experience based on social inclusion?
Does a traditional culture have inherent value? The answer can be no. Is the present situation the Tibetans face, likely limitation of freedom of expression and exposure to majority culture, better than theocracy and atrocious serfdom? The answer can well be a definite yes. China's effective and committed response in the YuShu earthquake recently, involving nearly all Tibetans, would help cement this assessment. The Tibetan issue, like most issues of ethnic minorities, is not a matter of international political trust, but evolving facts and mental struggle.
Jeff Church
United States (May 6, '10)


[Re D Mueller's letter, May 5] I think D Mueller hit the nail on the head on his own opening statement "It seems as though there are a minority of letter-writers to the ATimes". I also peripherally mentioned this on The Edge during the week. I don't believe in the perception of favored letter writers; simply we have a dearth of letter writers as the real underlying reason. It certainly would be nice to see the letter-writing base being expanded and I would encourage all readers to contribute.
Ian C Purdie
Sydney, Australia (May 6, '10)


[Re Pyongyang sees a US role in Cheonan sinking, May 4, '10] For several reasons, the article makes more sense than any other explanation. The US base in Okinawa needs a good scare of the Japanese public for the Japanese to acquiesce to US plans to keep the base on the Island. The South Korean public is becoming more restive and impatient toward US occupation and want to be once more in total control of their destiny. China's covert support of Pyongyang is also troubling to the US and Pyongyang needs to be shown as unreliable and radical to Beijing. The history of the US doing these kinds of incidents is well documented, and there is no genuine remorse in the top US echelons for a few dozen dead Koreans. When the story finally comes out 30 years from now, all of the guilty parties will be long gone, so, life goes on. Disgusting world we live in!
Ken Moreau
New Orleans, United States (May 5, '10)


[Re The Pentagon's game plan, May 4, '10] If half of the money spent on military buildup was directed to more useful causes, many of the world's pressing issues (social, energy, medical, etc.) would be solved. Trying to outdo one another using bigger guns can only lead to one thing—doom, but I fear humanity will not learn that tragic lesson until over half of the world population has been wiped out by war. On a separate note, thanks for the witty humor, ATol (your response to Ysais Martinez's letter).
John Chen
United States (May 5, '10)


[Re The Pentagon's game plan, May 4, '10] Jack A Smith's piece makes me think of a couple of things. First of all, Where are the war protesters who would interrupt senate sessions and would get tremendous coverage from the anti-Conservative media? It is interesting to me that our country is so divided that mere politics make us forget about the real issues. It also shows the great hypocrisy of the leftist propagandists who are ideological prostitutes. Second, the United States will be at war for many years to come because of the weakness of its leadership. It is amazing that after trillions of dollars poured into our defense and war technology we are unable to use any of our toys. We have the best trained soldiers in the world, with the best equipment to dispose the enemy, however we are bound by political correctness. Third, I don't understand our concern for the Palestinians terrorists or the Afghan deceivers while our border with Mexico has become ungovernable on the Mexican side. There is a drugs war in the Northern region of Mexico that would have more devastating consequences for us than anything that the Afghans do in their tribes. In fact we are perceived as the invaders by the locals so we are fueling their hatred day by day. If we had the guts to repay that hatred with greater hatred, it would not be a problem. But our leadership wants to repay hatred with Kumbayแ. As a final note, I stand by my mechanic's analogy. Many of us would rather be governed by 10 random used cars salesmen than the entire faculty combined of Harvard and Yale. It is an old conservative joke that shows that simple Americans who love their homeland are way better than deceivers like Chomsky who bites "the hand that fed him" and threaten our country from within with their anti-America rhetoric.
Ysais Martinez
United States (May 5, '10)


[Re Ysais Matinez's letter, May 4] Once again Mr Martinez fails to provide any facts to support his contempt for the arguments put forth by Noam Chomsky, who is hardly a left wing academic. In fact I would be willing to bet that Mr Chomsky holds the left in as much contempt as the right. First of all Mr Martinez, don't be universal in your condemnation of academics ... stick to the issues. Number two, never confuse education for practical wisdom. Third, bring your debate out of the gutter if you perceive that you are talked down upon. Fourth, contempt without fact, and before any investigation to its source, cannot fail but to keep a man in perpetual ignorance.
Miles Tompkins
Nova Scotia
Canada (May 5, '10)


It seems as though there are a minority of letter-writers to the ATimes who are using this feature of your sire as their personal blog, posting views on several topics every week or so. A quick perusal of the first few days of April revealed several names repeatedly making long-winded comments about this or that article. While I strongly support free speech, and feel that everyone should be entitled to his or her opinion, and speak on it publicly when appropriate, perhaps there should be some limits at your web-site. I've enjoyed looking at the letters section in the past as it allowed your readers the chance to glimpse the opinions of readers from around the world. But now, unfortunately, the letters section has been nearly commandeered by a few oafish folk who seem to think the world is interested in everything they have to say. This means the diversity of opinion has decreased and more difficult to find. I strongly encourage you to put monthly limits on individual writer's comments. If nothing else, it will improve the quality of their posts.
D Mueller (May 5, '10)

As the current debate between some writers on the Letters page does appear to be deteriorating into a slanging match, we invite them to now take it toThe Edge, our online forum. - ATol.

[Re A glorified divide in Vietnam, May 3] Vietnam, 35 years after liberation, remains a communist state with a capitalist vocation. The wellspring of freer market dynamism remains as it always was in Ho Chi Minh City. Even during the days of the French, Saigon as it was known then, basked in "legal privileges" denied to the country's two other regions. It is well to remember that even after liberation, regional differences persist but hardly to the extent that would foster nostalgia for the days of the long America war. Vietnam is one and reunited. And that's the lesson of the day.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (May 4, '10)


The wellhead blowout in the Gulf of Mexico will prove to be the Chernobyl of the oil business. The resulting environmental catastrophe will make the Exxon Valdez fiasco and Hurricane Katrina tragedy appear to be children's picnic diversions by comparison. That this would occur in Wonderland, a land long used to technological solutions and scientific wizardry to sanitize and conceal the true costs of American predatory capitalism, comes as no surprise. The oil company big shots are already running for cover, repeating the tired but dependable refrain of the guilty that "There was no way to imagine ... happening to ..." It seems we heard the same thing from the allegedly clueless Bush mafia in the wake of the alleged 9-11 "suicide attacks". Pathetic, preposterous and palpable nonsense. But this cycle of disaster/excuses/apologies/congressional hearings/reform-angst/business-as-usual has happened time and time again. The same arrogance, penury and convenient lack of imagination that gave us the Three Mile Island nuclear fiasco, the failed levees of New Orleans and the Challenger shuttle debacle has been more than offset by our collective short memory and the almost messianic belief that science will make everything better with little effort or sacrifice. Indeed, the entire country for the last 30 years has been imbued with the philosophy that our scientific superiority would make everything easier for Americans in the future. American domination would be maintained by virtue of our mastery of the atom, the microchip and the collaterized derivative. Americans would work smarter, "they" said, and the world would genuflect in its awe. War would become clean and bloodless (at least for Americans) because of robot drones, satellite imagery and smart bombs, finance would become more profitable with ever more sophisticated computer programs and exotic mathematical algorithms, industry would become more robust with new and efficient machines, the health of Wonderlanders had to become better with all the new Wonder drugs, modern hospitals and medical instruments being created, our education had to improve because all the kids were computer gurus and Internet masters, and American society had to improve because...well, see all of the above and take two funny mushrooms before going to bed. The illusion that somehow the old virtues of American society and industry could be replaced with machines, science and computer gimmickry was just like the fantasy that the disaster that occurred in the Gulf could never happen. These are the pipe dreams and convenient excuses that Americans have substituted for prudence, compassion, honesty, hard work, common sense, humanity and a sense of community. And these demonstrations of Wonder-hubris being hoisted on techno-petards are far from over.
Hardy Campbell
Houston, United States (May 4, '10)


In response to Miles Tompkins' letter I have to say that I don't understand your obsession with the global welfare suckers in the Gaza Strip and left-wing academics like Chomsky. Please do not talk down to me. I am only 27 years old and I am only one year away from getting my PhD degree in a difficult field like engineering. In addition, I go to school to an Ivy League school (which by the way means nothing to me because academia is plagued with defeatists) so I understand left-wing academics. I have more respect for the mechanic that changed my oil on Saturday than for the entire faculty of the department of engineering in my university. My mechanic stands for something while so called academics are a bunch of weasels, defeatists, anti-America-greatness people. I am not a weasel diplomat or a left-wing propagandist pimp. I do not mingle words because I do not work for the government or National Public Radio, nor am I bound by hate crimes laws. I just tell it like it is and I will until my last day on earth. I have an amazing life, greatly successful parents, and I have my own convictions which are not dictated by some government or some dictator - like the haters in the ME that have to be bound by some book full of hate or some people in communist China that must follow the party lines of thought. So do not talk down to me ever again.
Ysais Martinez
United States (May 4, '10)

Strange, with your contempt for the people who are trying to educate you, and your admiration for the guy who changes your oil, it would seem logical that you became a mechanic. - ATol


[Re Corruption gets an unfair rap, Apr 30] I can't hold back my chuckles while reading Walden Bello's article, as he solemnly cited World Bank and Transparency International assessments of placing China on par with the Philippines in degrees of corruption. I ask: what types of corruption? Of the nations and places I have lived for periods of a year or longer, I have not seen any place more corrupt than the US of A in terms of monetary magnitude or opinion manipulation. When the hole in the ground in downtown New York, the one at World Trade Center #1, remains a stinky hole after nine years and $6 billion of public funding, one would suspect corruption must be rampant. Take any public project in the US these days - prisons, highways, school funding, hospital projects, you name it - you see money and privileges being rationed; either that or the projects won't go up. Somehow these are not viewed upon as corruption. Who else in the world has the kind of revolving-door system that results in the trillion-dollar transfer of funds to mercenaries and weapons manufacturers, to Jesus-freak organizations, and to Wall Street parasites? Again, these are seemingly not cases of corruption. I suppose some people define corruption in a very narrow sense, limiting it to low-ranking public servants demanding a $100 for pushing some papers or closing an eye. In this sense, the unsophisticated developing nations are indeed gross and clumsy enough to be the laughing stocks, while we, the Wonderlanders - in the jargon coined by my favorite contributor to your letters, Hardy Campbell - can assure ourselves of our luck in living in the uncorrupted Wonderland.
Chenliyen
Wisconsin, United States (May 3, '10)


[Re Chinese leaders revive Marxist orthodoxy , Apr 30] China's ruling class has bowed in the direction of Marxist orthodoxy in raising statues of the Great Helmsman, reviving Cultural Revolution operas, and the like. Slim pickings, to say the least. It however has reverted to tightening its grip on society through thought control, reimposing stringent control of anything hinting of reform. It has reimposed a "lock down", even though the average citizen may have a slightly larger feeling of personal freedom. As for a more flexible policy toward the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang, China's President Hu Jintao will not venture forth in lessening the ropes on a vocal minority. He would have done better to take a leaf out of Chiang Kai-shek's book in encouraging the Turkmen to feel more at home in a new China. Nakamura Junzo
Guam (May 3, '10)


[Re Ysais Matinez's letter about Peace that could happen (but won't), Apr 30] Perhaps Mr Martinez could chomp down a few Prozac, and perhaps take a scientific and historical look at Chomsky and quietly debate the issues rather than descending into the poorly researched verbal barrage against a man who has proven himself time after time after time in debates with some highly capable individuals. He destroyed William Buckley's stature as numero uno intellectual many years ago and did it with a degree of knowledge and decorum that Mr Martinez is hardly familiar with.
Perhaps Mr Martinez could enlighten us with something called evidence that Mr Chomsky practices anti-semitism, seeing that he suffered much of that in his childhood. I don't think he needs any lessons from someone who appears unable to even define the term.
Terrorists? Best go back about 80 years to study Ze'ev Jabotinsky and move slowly through the fascist years and the revisionary Zionist terror in Palestine if you want to discuss terrorism. Study the milk bombs in Jaffa, the sabotaged bodies of British soldiers, the graves of Canadians in Gaza that Palestinians try to maintain ... go back and educate yourself to the point that you can participate in a debate with some degree of civility instead of the tripe we are blessed with on these pages.
Miles Tompkins
Canada (May 3, '10)


[Re Trickle of nonsense, Apr 30] Once again, the Mogambo exposes a faulty claim. What he doesn't describe is the actual trickle down activity. This involves the trickling down of a yellow substance from the rich and powerful to those below, and it aint gold or sunshine.
Ron Mepwith
United States(May 3, '10)


April Letters