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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

PROPOSED SOLUTION TO SYRIAN IMMIGRATION DILEMMA

Dear Artvoice,

During the holocaust, a charismatic activist named Hillel Kook, who took on the pseudonym Peter Bergson, attempted to save European Jewry through his campaigning and lobbying efforts in the United States.

Amongst his powerful advertisements was one in the Washington Post (May 29, 1944): “25 Square Miles or 2 Million Lives, Which Shall It Be?” The assertion was that by allocating 25 square miles of unused territory in places such as North Africa, Turkey, etc. in addition to abandoned military training camps could provide a safe zone for Jewish refugees undergoing mass-slaughter by the Nazis.

What the ads called for was use of unneeded and unused territory which to be used as a safety zone for the Jews until the war ended.

I propose a similar solution be put in place with regard to the dilemma the US and other countries are facing pertaining to the Syrian crisis as it relates to immigration. Countless thousands are dying due to this war, but on the other hand, unlike the Jewish refugees in the 1940’s, amongst the people we hope to protect exist radicals whom we are afraid to allow entry due to the possibility of terrorism.

Therefore, if together with other G20 nations, an area determined to be sufficiently large and inhabitable can be identified and an agreed-upon split of economic responsibility between such nations can be negotiated, this could be an unprecedented opportunity to accomplish the protection and saving of an untold number of lives

A second important accomplishment as well would be the demonstration of American (and Western) concern and care for Muslims, thereby greatly enhancing our image in Muslim nations worldwide.

Deb Das

NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Twice in seven days the United States shot nuclear-capable long-range missiles toward the Marshall Islands, but the same government refused in March to join negotiations for a new treaty banning nuclear weapons.

Tests conducted April 26 and May 3 from Vandenberg Air Force Base launched modernized Minuteman-III ballistic missiles. The US Air Force said in a statement that such tests ensure “the United States’ ability to maintain a strong, credible nuclear deterrent as a key element of US national security…”

In late March, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley explained why the US would boycott the “treaty ban” negotiations that began March 27 at the UN in New York City. Haley said about nuclear weapons, “We can’t honestly say that we can protect our people by allowing the bad actors to have them, and those of us that are good, trying to keep not to have them.” North Korean president Kim Jong-un could have said the same thing about his seven nuclear warheads, especially in view of US bombs and missiles currently falling on seven countries — Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Libya — and engagement in massive war games off the Korean peninsula.

Another April test, at the Tonopah bombing range in Nevada, dropped a “B61-12” the newest US H-bomb now in development and scheduled to go into production after 2022.

In 1997, President Bill Clinton signed Presidential Directive-60, reaffirming the threatened first use of nuclear weapons as the ‘cornerstone’ of US national security.… President Obama left office with the US poised to spend $1 trillion over the next 30 years to maintain and modernize its nuclear bombs and warheads.

US military: “We are prepared to use nuclear weapons”

The Air Force regularly tests Minuteman-3s. Deputy Pentagon Chief Robert Work explained “That is a signal … that we are prepared to use nuclear weapons in defense of our country if necessary.”

Jason Ditz put the rocket tests in context for Antiwar.com: “Everywhere and (mostly) without exception, the test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) would be angrily condemned by the United States as a dangerous provocation, and the firing of a nuclear-capable rocket would be treated as tantamount to an act of war. Not today, of course, when the missile in question was test-fired from California by the United States flying some 4,000 miles before hitting a test target near the Marshall Islands. The missile was identified as a Minuteman III, a nuclear-capable weapon of which the US has 450 in service.”

Haley flubbed her March 27 “peace and safety” speech saying, “We would love to have a ban on nuclear treat… nuclear weapons.” A ban on nuclear treaties is clearly what Haley’s bosses do want.

The United States is simultaneously bombing and rocketing across the Middle East, hitting civilians with drones, Cruise missiles and depleted uranium.

On March 29, two days after her UN speech Haley spoke to the Council on Foreign Relations and cleared up any confusion the Pentagon’s bombing spree might cause. Haley declared, “The United States is the moral conscience of the world.”  Well, “And I,” Dorothy Parker said, “am Marie of Romania.”

John LaForge