Letters, Aug. 26

Opinion

Played by Putin

Re: Little hope for end to Ukraine’s plight (Editorial, Aug. 25)

One of the main issues in the world today is that both Russia and China still sit on an UN Security Council. The time has long passed after the invasion of Ukraine that organizations from the Second World War have needed an overhaul. Times have changed.

Secondly, Putin actually fears NATO and kept sabre-rattling to keep America from providing the kind of support it needed to repel Russia in its early stages.

The U.S. could have made more decisive choices by stationing soldiers in Ukraine at the onset of the war in 2022 and it would have given Putin food for thought before he even entered Ukrainian territory with a full scale war. Or they could have given Ukraine the weaponry it needed within the first six months of the war, but their own fear and guilt from the Second World War held them back during Putin’s nuclear blackmailing and lies ,which prevented the U.S. and its allies from taking a stronger stance.

The West proved itself to be weak in the eyes of an ex-KGB operative who was playing them all along with his psychological tactics and fear mongering to keep them paralyzed in their response. Putin is really cowardly and uses brute force, repression and aggression to meet his goals. He is scared of NATO and the sooner the West could have called his bluff, the sooner this war would have ended for the sake of Ukraine, Ukrainians and the world.

Third, Trump is now allied with Putin for whatever reasons and therefore works against Ukraine and its valiant fight.

All that the U.S. and its NATO allies have done from the start is prolong Ukraine’s suffering and given Putin the green light to carry on.

It is only Ukrainians who are not fearful of Putin because they understand his psychology, stand strong in their resilience and stay hopeful because they know that any appeasement will bring about an erasure of their identity, torture and severe repression to their freedom loving country.

Christine Krucko

Winnipeg

On alternative medicine

Re: Long road to rejuvenation (Aug. 23)

No one hopes Jonathan Toew’s road back to the NHL, through our Winnipeg Jets, is successful more than me, a lifelong Winnipeg Jets fan. Having said that, if he is successful, I am not sure that it is fair to say that his success can be attributed to five weeks of alternative medicine intervention in India.

The article about Toews also quotes a naturopathic doctor in Winnipeg who indicates that the naturopathic approach can help people with a variety of chronic health issues. It is easy to say that you can help people with chronic health issues but it is much harder to prove it scientifically.

The reality is that alternative medicine practices rely on unproven, unscientific and potentially harmful therapies. And what is more these therapies are often expensive and pray on vulnerable individuals. The worst examples in this regard are the many charlatan cancer clinics that make egregious claims as to their effectiveness.

As always it is buyer beware or this case, patient beware of health cure claims that are not evidence based.

Mac Horsburgh

Winnipeg

Root of Canada’s problems

Re: The benefits of national service (Aug. 23)

David McLaughlin claims that “our national cohesion is under threat by domestic tensions imported from external conflicts and past immigration and refugee intakes that did not sufficiently account for our capacity to successfully integrate newcomers to our country.”

This is a coded way of saying that Canada has admitted too many non-white people. It pits people who’ve lived here longer against people who’ve recently arrived, implying that newcomers are a problem for the rest of us.

But newcomers are not a problem. Admitting people as temporary residents instead of permanent residents is a problem. Not enough good-quality, truly affordable housing is a problem. Low-paying and/or insecure jobs are a problem. The high cost of food is a problem. Under-resourced public education, healthcare and transportation are problems. Newcomers don’t cause these or any of the other problems that affect most people in our society.

McLaughlin also suggests that migrants are responsible for today’s “tensions” around “external conflicts” (one wonders if he’s thinking of the genocidal violence the Israeli state is inflicting on Palestinians). “Foreigners stirring up trouble” is an old accusation against immigrants. In the early 20th century, it was people from Ireland or Eastern Europe who were blamed, today the finger is usually pointed at people from Asia or Africa.

Instead of “national unity,” we should be concerned about oppression, austerity, dangerous right-wing forces and the ecological crisis. Social movements that unite people of all ages to tackle those problems are what we need, not “national service for young Canadians.”

David Camfield

Winnipeg

Losing patience

I feel compelled to make some comments about a lot of road work being done in the city.

I know summer is road work season in Winnipeg and many streets need to be done. However, I’m at a loss to understand why large stretches of streets are torn up , barricades go up, which of course reduces the street by one lane, and then we see no work whatsoever being done for weeks on end. Then we see streets with approximately 10-by-10-foot chunks cut out, again barricades go up and again, no work is done for weeks. Sometimes, three to four weeks.

The intersection at Kenaston and Grant was a prime example early this summer, where nothing was done for almost four weeks. Then one day an asphalt truck shows up with a crew and the hole was patched within a few hours. Why did it take this long for work to be done on a major thoroughfare like Kenaston?

Then we hear Coun. Janice Lukes telling us we should be patient while road work is being done. Well Janice, I think for the most part, Winnipeg motorists are patient. However, when we see what appears to be stupidity, incompetence or both, patience goes out the window.

D. Duane Johnston

Winnipeg

No negotiation in a shakedown

The media pundits are sagely rubbing their chins speculating on the significance of Canada’s removal of retaliatory Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement tariffs. How will this affect trade “negotiations”?

The answer to that is simple — not at all. Because there are not and will not be negotiations. A shakedown is not settled by negotiation. It works like this: the gangster says “I want this, this and this or I’ll break your kneecaps.”

It isn’t even about tariffs; they are just the baseball bat. The only question is the list. Will it include water for sale, preferential access to mineral resources, open bidding for all future forest harvesting rights, changing banking laws, scrapping supply management in agriculture?

Well, the only certainty is that whatever the concessions the tariffs will at best be reduced; maintaining the threat keeps the victim in line.

Norman Brandson

Winnipeg