Letters | Post-Afghanistan, US should be wary of stoking flames of conflict
- Readers discuss aggressive American rhetoric, the rules-based world, and why some Hongkongers are keeping their masks on
After the North Vietnamese victory in the Vietnam war, the United States spent the next 20 years trying to kick “Vietnam syndrome”. Of course, there were many other reasons for the political and social difficulties America faced in the 1970s and 1980s. An economic crisis, racial division and drug epidemics probably would have ravaged the US, regardless of the outcome of the Vietnam war.
Still, the American remedy for humiliation in Vietnam seemed to be more military conflict. In the 1980s, the US invaded Panama and Grenada, and deployed forces to Libya and Lebanon. The 1991 Gulf war gave the US a much-needed morale boost.
Like in the aftermath of Vietnam, the US is trying to recover lost morale and, on the international stage, lost pride. It should not surprise anyone that American rhetoric has become high-octane, even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
One can only hope the US leadership does not act rashly. Whether it is a trigger-happy response to a floating object in the sky, strong rhetoric or higher military spending, America should be wary of stoking the flames of conflict.
The US has not recovered from the decades in Iraq and Afghanistan. With an estimated US$6.5 trillion of post-September 11 war debt by 2050, America might not recover financially.
When politicians like Lindsey Graham suggest assassinating Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the Ukraine war, the American people should take such comments seriously. The US and the world cannot afford another decades-long unresolvable conflict.
Timothy Wong, Whampoa
It’s the West that won’t live and let live
A Russian who returned from the rules-based United States told me that over there, people in one state could vote to ban alcohol, then legally buy it in a neighbouring state. Meanwhile, Russia has not been blockaded by several of our neighbours, and that’s where we now import Western brands from.
Actually, the only Russian social class affected by President Vladimir Putin’s course is our oligarchs, who find that their offshore funds, property and other assets may be confiscated by the West to support Ukraine. In 1947, Joseph Stalin did something similar: my father was a schoolboy then in a small Siberian town where a local nouveau riche man died after learning that monetary reform allowed him, like everyone else, to exchange only a small amount of World War II-era roubles for new post-war ones.
Now the world sees my country’s true colours, and my country sees the world’s true colours. Dostoevsky must have seen the world’s true colours in the 19th century, when he published The Idiot. The novel ends in Switzerland with a Russian woman berating a Russian man: “So enough of this nonsense; it’s time we faced the truth. All this continental life, all this Europe of yours, and all the trash about ‘going abroad’ is simply foolery …” And I totally agree with our great writer: how can Russia coexist with the West, which is always moving its troops to our border?
Mergen Mongush, Moscow
Why some of us are still wearing masks
Many Hongkongers had been unhappy about mandatory mask-wearing indoors and outdoors. Clearly, people should be all smiles with the mask order being lifted.
But I woke up on Wednesday morning to find that contrary to expectations, the vast majority of people were still wearing masks, not to mention those commuting to work by public transport.
Had these mask wearers not heard of the lifting the mask mandate? Or had they been stockpiling masks that they didn’t want to waste?
I tried to come up with other possible explanations. People my age may have wrinkles they can’t get rid of without plastic surgery. Lipstick could be costly these days. Some people may have got used to wearing masks, so much so that it’s a habit they can’t break. Or maybe they are the stylish type who wear masks as fashion accessories that match their outfits.
Let’s keep our eyes on these people for a few more weeks and see how committed they are to wearing masks. I hope Hong Kong won’t be a masked city.
Randy Lee, Ma On Shan
