Regarding H.D.S. Greenway's "America botches Georgia" (Views, Aug. 20): The countries of Europe have long looked to the United States for stability in foreign policy, especially in their relations with Russia.
Russia went from the giant bear on Europe's doorstep to a land of domestic strife in the immediate post-Cold War period. The country has now re-established itself under the leadership of Vladimir Putin.
Russia, however, struggles in its new role. There have been numerous examples in which Moscow's diplomacy has been too aggressive. But what can we expect when the world's remaining superpower, the United States, has misunderstood and mismanaged it diplomatic relations with almost every country or region around the world.
Greenway has highlighted what good foreign policy can achieve.
William Lloyd, Shanghai
Something has been noticeably lacking since the fighting erupted in Georgia. There have been no protest marches in London or Rome condemning Russian overreaction. There has been very little protest from human rights organizations about violations - real, fabricated or exaggerated.
Why not? Why such silence in the face of such blatant, unnecessary and unfair use of force by the same leader who carpet bombed Chechnya over the same issue of separation and independence.
Harvey Schneider, Jerusalem
Regarding the article "With Russia rising, Poles look West" (Aug. 21): Why can't the Bush administration understand that planting any facility connected with nuclear weapons in somebody's backyard is likely to upset and antagonize.
The deployment of a missile defense base in Poland is clearly an attempt to chip away at Russia's influence in the region. When Russia attempted to plant nuclear devices in Cuba, America immediately went to into high defensive mode.
President Bush has only succeeded in creating more insecurity as well sacrificing whatever hopes of peaceful progress that Georgia might have had.
David Wood Chikushino City, Japan
The critics of Russia's intervention in Georgia should reflect on the failure of the West to stop the thousands of murders and rapes in Sudan, especially Darfur. One might also recall the way the West ignored the slaughter in Rwanda and the ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia.
Russia has acted quickly and effectively to stop ethnic violence. The West is wrong to demand the withdrawal of Russian troops until an international force can be brought in. Georgia cannot be trusted to carry out unbiased peacekeeping in South Ossetia, as its brutal invasion proved.
The U.S. can hardly take the moral high-ground here. It is not Russia that should be the focus of the world's approbation but Georgia's president.
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