Friday, February 13, 2015

182 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRESS

11/02/2015 WHO IS THE REAL AGGRESSOR ?
The drums of war are getting louder and louder and the rhetoric of the war mongers more absurd by the day when accusing Russia of trying to "redraw the map of Europe" (Press 11/02). Surely only those not familiar with the map of the world may fall for it. However, after the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the subsequent dismantling of the Warsaw Pact, NATO obviously became obsolete and could have been disbanded. It was not, but did promise not to "move one inch eastward". To-day NATO stands right at the borders of Russia. In 2008 US/NATO deployed a 'missile defense' system in Poland, ostensibly in response to a perceived threat from Iran. A year ago America engineered a coup detat in the Ukraine (illegal under international law) shortly before planned democratic elections scheduled for May of that same year and installed a regime composed of mainly ultra nationalist fascists and Neo Nazis in Kiev. Any wonder that ethnic Russians in the Ukraine revolt ? Over a million have already fled into Russia.

09/02/2015  "BOOTS ON THE GROUND"
Peter Clements is absolutely right (09/02).  ISIS can be defeated by a coalition of Middle Eastern countries and I would have added Israel, the most powerful military power in the region, if these countries were prepared to put "boots on the ground". That's why Syria, no doubt aided by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, has up to now fairly successful in freeing most of the country from ISIS terrorists. So why are most of these countries Peter Clements mentioned in his letter unwilling to engage ground troops ? Because ISIS is the result of failed American policy that backfired when through its allies, mainly Saudi Arabia, Jordan and possibly Israel in the background, they financed, trained and supplied huge quantities of weapons to the Syrian 'rebels' in an attempt to oust Bashar al Assad. That's still the long term objective of the US. Should New Zealand be drawn in such a conflict if that were to happen ?

06/02/2015   NEW ZEALAND PUPPET STATE.
I usually agree wholeheartedly with the sensible, well informed views of your correspondent Donna Mojab. However in her latest letter (06/02) she made a little slip-up when she stated that 'New Zealand has a proud history of peaceful and independent foreign policy'. That may have been so many years ago, but since New Zealand gave up here nuclear free status it has become a little subservient puppet of the United States. We are now pressured by the Obama administration to help to pay for America's disastrous foreign policies that backfired when through its allies Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and possibly Israel, these countries financed, provided weapons and training to the Syrian 'rebels' in their failed attempt to oust Bashar al Assad. It was Jordan that allowed the CIA to set up training camps within its borders. It is America that has the resource and the military power to defeat ISIS and New Zealand soldiers should not be put in harms way and be sacrificed for American mistakes.

22/01/2015  RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES PUT IN PERSPECTIVE
Some of your correspondents maintain that the Koran is inciting violence. However Judaism, Christianity and Islam all belong to the same Abrahamic religions. May I point out that the God of the Old Testament on which Judaism is based, was a cruel, unjust and unforgiving God. During the last 500 years  west Europeans in their scramble for natural resources have literally killed millions of the indigenous with the Cross in one hand and the gun in the other. We utterly destroyed the old Inca and Aztec civilisations in Latin America and depopulated large parts of Africa in the trafficking and exploit of human beings. Because of our technological superiority northern European nations have enriched themselves by plundering the natural resources of those we regarded inferior and subhuman. This process is still on going yet even on a much larger scale. Millions of people in Asia (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia etc.) and in the Middle East killed, also in the quest of natural resources.. The colonization of Palestine resulted in the expulsion of its native population on pretexts of outdated biblical mythologies and with brutal force replaced with aliens of mostly east European origin. Are atom bombs, drones, napalm more civilized killing methods than the ones used by those who are hitting back as a result of what we have done to them over the past centuries ?