The People’s Letters Page

Here is this week’s People’s Letters Page…

Dear Editor,

The concluding warmongering bits of Joe Biden’s State of the Union address this week must be challenged.

He said that Putin’s war has been “totally unprovoked”.

This is not true. While Putin’s brutal invasion is certainly unjustified it can be argued to be the result of 30 years of failed diplomacy and goading by NATO.

He also said that Putin “rejected repeated efforts at diplomacy”.

This is unclear, if not totally untrue.

The problem rests as much in western Governments’ inability to recognise Russia’s genuine security interests as it does with Putin’s irredentist ambitions.

It is clear that some western leaders want a war with Putin.

Joe Biden also said that the US Administration “countered Russia’s lies with the truth”.

There is no question that Putin is prone to lying – almost all leaders are, particularly totalitarian ones – but the US Government can hardly claim to be a paragon of virtue on the truth front.

They have told continuous lies that have condemned multitudes to their deaths as witnessed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and currently in Yemen.

His last utterance was the most worrying.

After the usual “God bless our troops, thank you” he said somewhat triumphantly “Go get him!”

This is not in the official transcript of his speech and so could be taken as a Trumpian type slip, which is all the more worrying.

Assuming the ‘him’ in question is Putin, the question arises as to who exactly is doing the going and the getting.

Of course, we know well that this is the courageous Ukrainian people who are putting up a remarkable defence against Putin’s brutal assault of their country.

So, the US, and other western countries, will supply lots of military hardware thus escalating this proxy war between two powerful military blocks into a bloodbath while making no attempt whatsoever at diplomatic means to stop it.

They also show scant regard and support for the diplomatic efforts of President Zelensky.

Taking inspiration from the brave Russian anti-war protesters we must counter this western warmongering with calls instead for a ceasefire, diplomacy and meaningful peace talks.

It is the only way to avoid mass slaughter and a descent into barbarism. The Ukrainian people deserve peace and security, not this proxy war.

Yours etc,

Jim Roche,

PRO Irish Anti-War Movement,

PO Box 9260,

Dublin 1.

 

Dear Editor,

Once again, the Minister for Health references a “campaign of misinformation” regarding religious influence over our proposed new National Maternity Hospital at Elm Park.

We share the sense of frustration and urgency felt by some of the clinicians and midwives of Holles Street at the delay in moving the new National Maternity Hospital project along.

We would point out that this years-long delay was for the most part caused by the necessity to obtain Vatican approval for a property deal in which successive ministers assured us there would be no religious involvement.

If, as the Minister insists, there is not and never has been any question of religious influence in the actual running of the new hospital, it should surely be a simple matter to lay the legal framework with its promised “cast-iron guarantees” and “unbreakable stipulations” before the Dáil.

Any further hold-up might suggest that this alleged misinformation is coming from a source unrelated to our campaign.

Let’s see what you’ve got, Minister!

Jo Tully

Our Maternity Hospital Campaign Chair

 

Dear Editor,

The devasting and destructive invasion of Ukraine by Russia has had a strange impact on the national psyche in Ireland.

The daily horror stories being reported on from Ukraine have led to the faint sound of war drums being heard the length and breath of our own country.

Anyone can see that there is a full scale propaganda war currently being fought to get Ireland to increase its military spending and even join NATO.

Various media outlets have been leading the clamour and have been using the invasion of Ukraine to try and sell this most unpalatable idea.

Even Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has got in on the act by saying in the Dail this week that we have ‘gotten by for 70 years presuming nobody would attack us’ and that even if we were attacked he’s not sure the US and UK would come to our defence anymore.

I believe that our military neutrality is honourable and should be protected at all costs.

If we were to give up on our military neutrality surely Shannon would be a most targeted airport.

In conclusion, I find it utterly fascinating that a lot of the people leading the call for us to abandon our neutrality because Ukraine was invaded had nothing to say or contribute to the debate when Irish men and women living in Northern Ireland were being subjected to horrific war crimes by the Unionist/Loyalist population, RUC and British Army.

Yours sincerely,

James Carney,

Cabra

 

Dear Editor,

The Russian invasion of Ukraine should open our eyes to other more distant wars and their consequences.

We are angry at what is happening in Ukraine yet don’t seem to have any interest to other conflicts around the world.

Millions of people are starving to death in Afghanistan due to the sanctions imposed upon the Taliban by Western governments.

Millions of people are starving in Yemen, where support from the West in the form of arms allows Saudi Arabia to wreck havoc on the civilian population.

In Nigeria, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan famine and starvation affect millions yet we rarely hear or see anything about this in the Western media.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Cahill,

Donnybrook,

Dublin 4