Letters, July 18

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/07/2023 (1102 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Putin no victim

Re: Canada should leave NATO (Letters, July 17); China intensifies military drills with Russia amid U.S. sanctions (July 17)

NATO wouldn’t have been strengthened if Russia had not invaded Ukraine, a sovereign nation. Because of this now Finland and Sweden have decided to join NATO in order to protect their borders. Putin and Russia are not victims.

Maybe Mr. Insch should ask Ukrainian refugees how they feel about Russia’s invasion of their country. He should read the article China intensifies military drills with Russia amid U.S. sanctions in the July 17 paper. It is wrong for Russia to invade Ukraine and to be bombing civilians.

Leanne Hanuschuk

Winnipeg

I read Mr. Insch’s letter regarding this subject with interest. However, I could not disagree with his analysis more. To characterize Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a civil war suggests that Russia and Ukraine are one country. They are not!

Russia invaded a sovereign nation as a part of Vladimir Putin’s goal of rebuilding the Russian empire. In this one must remember that a number of other sovereign nations were once a part of the Russian empire (a.k.a. the USSR). I should also mention Russia’s Arctic intentions which have a direct impact on Canada.

Clearly Mr. Insch regards NATO as the aggressor. However, it must be remembered that NATO did not invade a non-NATO country. It was Russia that invaded a non-NATO country. This invasion served to convince other small countries (Sweden and Finland) that their best defense against an imperialist Russia was membership in NATO. However, I do agree that genocide is a factor.

However, it is not a matter of Canada advocating genocide. Rather it is Putin’s statements when he invaded Ukraine that there is not such thing as a Ukraine or a Ukrainian culture or language.

This was a clear indication that his intent after absorbing the Ukrainian state was cultural and linguistic genocide.

Brian Huzel

Winnipeg

 

NATO not the aggressor

Re: On NATO issue, Putin’s made his bed (Editorial, July 15)

I read this editorial with great interest, but was deeply disappointed by the erroneous interpretations of important aspects of Ukrainian history that were touched on in the article.

I agree with the writer that Putin has “made his bed” and will have to lie within it. His paranoiac delusions that revolve around the notion that Western democratic nations are/were seeking to attack and destroy Russia have always been without merit. Even so, he and his army of deceptive propagandists have spent barrels of ink convincing their people that this is the case, and that Ukrainians are Nazis.

One need search no further than legitimate historic texts that present timelines of events in Eastern Europe over the centuries to quickly determine that the only regime in over a century to attempt to conquer Russia was led by the equally ruthless and genocidal Adolf Hitler. And, as much as it would pain Putin to admit it, the Ukrainian fighters located on their own Ukrainian territory were the primary force that held back and ultimately defeated the Nazis as they drove their troops eastward.

The other legitimate historical fact related to notions of conquest that needs to be mentioned is that it has been the Bolsheviks/Russians/Soviet Union that have regularly gobbled up land and nations that surrounded their domains, out of unmitigated avarice and the most brutal forms of terror and subjugation. Not the other way around. When was the last time you heard of any nation planning to take over, or attacking Russia…? The last time was, ironically, when their own partner in deviltry, Nazi Germany, turned on them (before Stalin had the opportunity to turn on Hitler).

Regarding the “threat” that NATO poses; there isn’t one! NATO is a defensive institution. When has a NATO country ever attacked another country? Why would they? Do you think any of the countries who are NATO partners want to go to war with Russia? What good would it do any of them to engage in such a war? It would be catastrophic. NATO nations prefer peace. Russia prefers conquest. The proof is clear in the actions taken over the past year.

The current state of world affairs indicates that there is not, nor has there ever been, a reasonable case to disband NATO. It is an absolutely necessary peace keeping organization. Bullies and thugs generally look for indications of weakness before they attack, because they are by nature, cowards. Had Putin and his henchmen suspected Ukraine was as powerful as it has shown itself to be, and had they realized Ukraine has as many friends as it does, they would have moved onto to easier pickings.

One final note about the comment “after the 2014 Russo-Ukrainian war.” This war began in 2014 and it is ongoing. It ballooned into the current large-scale war. Putin and company started the war in 2014 after their puppet, Viktor Yanukovych was ousted from his role as president of Ukraine. The Ukrainian people had enough of Russian agents and oligarchs controlling their country and destiny. That’s why the Maidan Revolution occurred. After their house was cleared of a Russian leaning leader, who turned down the opportunity to partner with the West, Putin dispatched his anonymous “little green men” to gobble up as much Ukrainian territory as they could. The Ukrainian army was able to limit them to the two continuously embattled eastern regions (Donetsk and Luhansk) until 2022. That war is ongoing, just on a larger scale.

Anyone who thinks NATO is no longer necessary is sadly mistaken. If NATO had unravelled in previous decades, an avaricious Russia would have been a larger problem than it is now.

Michael Boss

Winnipeg

 

Coyotes here to stay

Re: ‘Scaling down our operations’: Manitoba Conservation kills five coyotes after June attacks (July 13)

Let’s be clear. The continuing killing spree of coyotes by Manitoba Conservation is not about public safety.

If safety were paramount, trapping would not be part of the strategy. Traps are opportunistic, and don’t care whether the coyotes caught have attacked people or not.

Instead, Manitoba Conservation has embarked on a misguided mission to quell public fears through animal sacrifice — killing as many coyotes as possible.

According to the provincial wildlife biologist quoted, “it is virtually impossible to remove a coyote population from an area once it’s moved in” and “the more effective solution is to teach individuals how to co-exist with coyotes on our communities.”

Unfortunately, this enlightened message is not getting through to front-line Conservation staff.

John Youngman

Winnipeg