Grand illusion
Sir: I am writing more in sorrow than in anger. In my opinion Mr von Hoffman's ignorance can only be matched by his arrogance (13 August). Will such people never learn?
Having gobbled up the whole of Eastern Europe and Afghanistan, not to mention the outposts in Angola, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Libya, the Soviet Union is now after Central America. If the late President Kennedy had listened to people like Mr von Hoffman, the Soviets would have succeeded in planting their missiles in Cuba. Is Mr von Hoffman never going to learn?
The appeasement policy did not work with Hitler and I do not expect it to work with the Soviets. Dictatorships of any political colour only understand brute force, not sweet reasonableness. May I suggest that journalists of Mr von Hoffman's persuasion are already responsible for undermining American morale during the war in Vietnam. Do they want more blood on their hands and more disasters?
P. A. Lindsay
University of London, King's College, London WC2
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