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Readers of our Feb. 13 report were split on Iran's nuclear threat. "Iran has as much right to nukes as Israel," said one. Another wrote, "With nuclear weapons involved, we can't misinterpret this debate."
Your Feb. 20 article "Lost, Without a Trace" states that "Japan has indicated that it will pay Pyongyang about $10 billion as compensation for the Japanese occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945." The government of Japan has not made such a proposal to North Korea. This description is inaccurate and could create a misunderstanding.
Jiro Okuyama
Read More on News
New York, New York
Several points in your report "Will Korea Break Up Samsung?" (Feb. 20) are misleading. President Roh Moo Hyun's administration introduced a three-year market-reform road map (in 2003) with phase-by-phase policy measures aimed at promoting management transparency and accountability, improving corporate governance and encouraging fairness and competition in market transactions. As part of this plan, the Korean government has proposed a legal amendment to the Legislature to prevent unhealthy cross-shareholding. As you pointed out, it is illegal for financial companies in the West to control industrial companies for the same reason. But then you deliberately play down the effort of the Korean government, making it look like an indication of an "anti-tycoon regulatory environment." Blasting Korea for "having an almost communist attitude" and "societal antipathy to the rich" is an insult. The past several decades have shown that Koreans aspire to become better off, as proved by our rags-to-riches story. Who would have thought that a resource-poor country like Korea could make it in such a short time? Besides, we hold entrepreneurship in high regard: recent surveys show that five out of 10 most-respected young Koreans are entrepreneurs. With so many Lee wanna-bes, "antipathy to the rich" is a misnomer. You are creating a false impression of an elected government.
Kyungjin Song
Seoul, Republic of Korea
I applaud you for running a story on the dangers that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad poses to the civilized world ("Devoted and Defiant," Feb. 13). Ahmadinejad has reversed Iran's recent policy of trying to become less isolated from the world, and has made hateful comments threatening Israel, one of our longtime allies. For those who say we can ignore him, one must remember that people said the same thing about Hitler and other dictators before they unleashed their terror. The good news is that Europe and America seem unified and realize the harm that Ahmadinejad can cause. We must stand united on this.
Steven M. Clayton
Ocean, New Jersey
Our generation is facing a political dilemma on the level of the Cuban missile crisis. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seems to be a clever man who knows how to push the buttons of the Western world. One can't help but wonder if such blatant provocations come from a planned agenda on his part. The question is, To what end? Do we take the bait and use military force or do we stand by while Iran becomes another North Korea? Ahmadinejad's rhetoric certainly stirs hatred both in and outside Iran. Is he provoking an avoidable war to galvanize support? With nuclear weapons at the center of the debate it is simply something we can't afford to misinterpret.
Lawrence Russo
Long Beach, New York
Why shouldn't Iran have as much right to nuclear weapons as Israel, Pakistan or, for that matter, the United States? I don't believe Iran has waged any pre-emptive wars lately. In the last few centuries, its people have more often been the victims of invasion. True, their president is a religious nut who is given to inflammatory rhetoric and denying the truth when it's ideologically inconvenient, but he is hardly alone on that. If you were Iran, wouldn't you want to have some good negotiating chips? Perhaps we should stop being hypocrites and welcome Iran to the club, where we could at least have a better idea of what he is up to.
Joan Ponsford
El Paso, Texas
President George W. Bush has already stamped Iran as part of the Axis of Evil and continues to discredit the ruling party. With our military presence on both sides of Iran, in Iraq and Afghanistan, Iranians are understandably worried and right to ask if their country is next. Also, Iran and the Muslim world have always criticized the double standards in our foreign policy. Why don't we subject Israel to the same guidelines as Iran? Iranians see nukes as a measure of security. After all, is it not their fear of Israel's nuclear arsenal that is keeping the Arabs from further hostilities and forcing them to the negotiating table?
Nabil Haddad
Chandler, Arizona
In "Devoted and Defiant," you question whether President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to be believed when he states that his nation's goal is to acquire nuclear power strictly for peaceful purposes. Of course, he is not to be believed. He has stated that his goal is to "wipe Israel off the map." Neither he nor any member of his cabinet has renounced this thinly veiled declaration of war against the Jewish state. He will not accomplish this end through hand-to-hand combat. He is looking forward to the day when he can use a nuclear weapon against Israel. The world must not allow that to happen. Anyone who believes that Iran has peaceful intentions under this Holocaust-denying anti-Semite is a fool or someone of extraordinary naivete.
Oren M. Spiegler
Upper Saint Clair, Pennsylvania
If there is one lesson to be learned from our invasion of Iraq, it is that a regime cannot be attacked separately from its citizenry. According to your article ("Iran's Rogue Rage," Jan. 23), the Bush administration has still not learned a thing. It is kidding itself if it thinks the Iranian people do not support their president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He won with 62 percent of the vote. "We hate the regime, we love the people" just won't work. Unless the United States is willing, when victorious, to treat an entire country as a defeated nation, and to occupy it with troops as it did Japan and Germany, it had better wait until an internal critical mass develops and the regime is changed by the people.
Edwin Levi
Englewood, New Jersey
Your report on the Iranian nuclear situation was salient and well done. The point that the radicals operate better when isolated from (Western) society is well taken. I must wonder just how isolated they are, however, in view of the lead photograph depicting Iranian workers manipulating "a container of radioactive uranium yellowcake" with labels clearly in the English language. Who is supporting whom?
Sandford Logan Weiler Sr.
Harlan, Kentucky
"Iran's Rogue Rage" barely mentions that the United States has attacked and occupies Iran's neighbors on the east and west. What assurance does Iran have that without an effective deterrent it won't be next? While you refer to Tehran's nuclear provocation, I don't recall your using similar language when our Congress authorized a multimillion-dollar study to upgrade the American nuclear arsenal. How about President George W. Bush and Ahmadinejad sitting down at the negotiating table before the escalation results in deadly consequences for us all?
Mark Glenn
Reno, Nevada
What happened to the doctrine of nuclear balance that made us survive the cold war? Isn't Iranian nuclear capability essential to balance Israel's? Israel has been waging wars against its neighbors, who cannot defend themselves. If Iran has nuclear capability, Israeli aggression might just decrease. No serious conflict has erupted between India and Pakistan after both gained nuclear weapons. The idea that Iranians are mad is false. Their attitude has historic and cultural explanations, and most sensible people would react the same way if in the same position.
Fridrik Yngvason
Akureyri, Iceland
Even a fool can see that this nuclear question, as with the killing of Rafik Hariri, is the pretext the United States has found to declare all but war on their enemies in the Middle East. Iran conducted nuclear research in secret for 18 years; no proof has been found that this research was directed toward a weapons program. Sure, this was in secret, for the very simple reason that the States and Israel were waging war against the country and would have tried to bomb the installations, like they did in Iraq at that time.
Willy Van Damme
Dendermonde-Grembergen, Belgium
Fearing that the peace process would be adversely affected, the United States and Israel will not deal with Hamas. But power is likely to bring moderation in Hamas. It needs support from the States and Israel. Cutting off the Hamas government will not further the peace process. Hamas is now a reality on the ground. The sooner we accept it, the better it would be for peace in the region. Hamas has the great responsibility for delivering to Palestinians. They have been chosen for peace, not war.
Zeeshan Ahmad
Lahore, Pakistan
After reading about Hamas's "Extreme Victory" (Feb. 6), my questions are: Was it a victory? What was really won? The most dire need in the Palestinian territories today is law and order. The people are demanding honest government. There's one problem: the Hamas charter calls for Israel's destruction. America shouldn't support any country that has terrorists as its allies. Countries in the Middle East have had unrest and turmoil for many years, and they will continue to do so without ever knowing true democracy.
Joseph P. Paris
Rochester, New York
The leaders of Hamas should be grateful to Israeli hard-liners for their stunning electoral victory. It would be a mistake if Israel and its friends interpreted this result as popular support for the whole spectrum of Hamas's ideology. It is only an expression of Palestinian desperation with the slow progress of the peace process and the fact that, in the meantime, Israelis are annexing more and more of Palestinian land by expanding their settlements and the route of their infamous security wall. Palestinian hard-liners should recognize Israel's right to exist. Israeli hard-liners should remember that there is no case for grabbing Palestinian lands. A sensible solution to the problem would be the creation of the Palestinian state based on pre-1967 boundaries. If peace is established, not only could Israeli and Palestinian children play together, they could prosper together with funds going into productive avenues rather than into destructive conflict. For this to happen, wisdom should prevail over Palestinian obstinacy about Israel's existence, and Israeli greed for Palestinian lands.
C.J.M. Mathew
Faridabad, India
Hamas's victory should put to rest any supposed disconnect between the actions of Palestinian "homicide bombers" and the Palestinian rank and file. Such narratives have, in the past, ignored inconvenient realities like the Palestinians' cheering en masse as missiles fired from Iraq rained down on Israel during the first gulf war, or Palestinians' dancing in the streets on 9/11, or the celebrations that break out when a homicide bombing kills Jews. These are not a peaceful people, and hard-liners in Israel have long understood that any concession to Palestinian demands weakens Israel. This is proved every time rockets are fired from Gaza at Jewish towns. NEWSWEEK says, "Hamas has generally honored a yearlong truce with Israel." Is there an acceptable number of homicide bombings that would indicate Hamas's peaceful intentions? I think that the reduction in homicide bombings has little to do with altered priorities on the part of Hamas and everything to do with Israel's security wall. It has long been clear that the Palestinian people don't want peace with Israel unless peace can be defined as the obliteration of your adversary. That Hamas won a clear majority amply demonstrates this hard truth.
Alan Glasser
Manning, South Carolina
Richard Nixon was the only American president who was so strongly anti-communist that he could open up communist China by going there in person. Ariel Sharon was the only strong-enough leader in Israel who could unilaterally withdraw from Gaza. If someone in Hamas were to realize that, he could bring peace and a two-state Israel-Palestine by recognizing Israel and denouncing violence. It would guarantee a Nobel Peace Prize plus instant recognition for the new Palestinian state.
Stanley M. Rice
Sherman Oaks, California
In August 2003 I was in Jerusalem during the "ceasefire." A member of the Magen David returned one afternoon from the field and informed us that the Israel Defense Forces had killed some Palestinians. Although Israel had not honored the ceasefire, the suicide bombing that took place in retaliation caused the media to lay all blame on the Palestinians. Israeli tanks roll regularly through Palestinian streets, homes are raided in the middle of the night and houses are demolished, sometimes with the residents still in them. Access to schools, work and medical facilities is made difficult, if not impossible. Some highways and roads are for Israelis only. How can a people be expected to live under these conditions? Those of us who have witnessed the occupation, severe oppression and devastating human-rights violations don't have a strong-enough voice in this country. Israel, with its arsenal of weapons, blind support by the United States and total lack of respect or compassion for its neighbors, is pushing the Palestinians to the breaking point. It is no wonder Hamas was elected.
Annette Thomas
Clarkston, Michigan
Mark Starr's Feb. 6 article "the Winter Blues," about Torino, completely ignored the city's excited atmosphere. Was he aware of the great changes Torino went through? This is the most forward-looking city in Italy, on its way to a brand-new life with an eye to its past and present glories. Its new dimensions include its renowned infrastructure links to the rest of Europe, its great winter-sports resorts, entertainment, culture and fine cuisine. Torino is far from "fading"--it is one of the most charming cities in Italy, born again now with new and fascinating challenges.
Franco R. Natali
Torino, Italy
Starr describes Torino as a "former auto-manufacturing capital known ... for a great football team." He sees Torino as an Italian Detroit, but it is more: it's an Italian Philadelphia. It's the first capital, the place where the first Italian Constitution (the Statuto Albertino) was given, where Italian unity was declared. Torino has a strong tradition of elegance in many fields--architecture, food and design.
Daniele Giannoni
Milan, Italy
Your articles about Italy are all negative. I'm aware of our many problems, but being negative all the time, you do not depict the real Italy. As for the Olympics, I live in Torino and assure you, the situation was not as bad as you made it out to be in "Who Cares About Torino?" (Jan. 2). Most of the work was done, the stadiums were ready and tickets of many events were sold out in advance. In the same issue, the article about Rome ("Monuments and Money") was worse. Your coverage of Italy makes me doubt the reliability of your reports about other countries that I can't check out for myself.
Luciano Rosa Marin
Giaveno, Italy
Tony Blair arbitrarily decided to take us to war, then decided we'll have no inquiries into what happened on July 7 or the rendition flights ("Changing Partners?" Jan. 2). Thousands are fighting, starving and dying for this perverted version of "democracy." Perhaps our M.E.P.s will instigate a European inquiry into the disturbing issues surrounding the farcical British inquiry system.
Stan Harper
Stratford-on-Avon, England
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