LETTER: We should be concerned when Putin starts acting like Kim
To suggest that the West’s wish to have Ukrainians decide their own future free from authoritarian control should be seen as interference is as stupid as suggesting the East doesn’t produce tyrants
25 February 2022 - 13:20
byBernard Benson
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A poster depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen as Ukranians gather in protest outside the Russian Consulate on February 25 2022 in Istanbul, Turkey. Picture: GETTY IMAGES/BURAK KARA
I hold no torch for the US and would agree that their military adventures in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan were huge mistakes, and that their interference in other governments over time were hardly altruistic.
However, to suggest that the West’s wish to have Ukrainians decide their own future free from authoritarian control should be seen asinterferenceis as stupid as suggesting the East doesn’t produce tyrants.
Joseph Stalin probably killed as many of his countrymen as Adolf Hitler, so perhaps we should be concerned when Vladimir Putin starts acting like North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
Bernard Benson Parklands
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: We should be concerned when Putin starts acting like Kim
To suggest that the West’s wish to have Ukrainians decide their own future free from authoritarian control should be seen as interference is as stupid as suggesting the East doesn’t produce tyrants
Your correspondents Terry Crawford Browne (“No more kowtowing to ‘gringos’", February 23) and Dr Peter Baker (“Is US hype on Ukraine another Iraq?", February 23), write like naive propagandists.
I hold no torch for the US and would agree that their military adventures in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan were huge mistakes, and that their interference in other governments over time were hardly altruistic.
However, to suggest that the West’s wish to have Ukrainians decide their own future free from authoritarian control should be seen as interference is as stupid as suggesting the East doesn’t produce tyrants.
Joseph Stalin probably killed as many of his countrymen as Adolf Hitler, so perhaps we should be concerned when Vladimir Putin starts acting like North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
Bernard Benson
Parklands
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
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