21 AUGUST 1964, Page 19

SI R> --- Surely Quoodle has missed the point in his er,iticisms of

the Guardian and its attitude to the United States. There are a great many people in was country who are tired and frightened by the American habit of gambling with our lives by adopt- ing a belligerent line with the Communists when- ever it pleases them. Their judgment of the right rune and place for a show of strength does not Lecord with mine nor, I feel, with many other maple's, either.

the mere fact that in both Cuba and Vietnam ine world was brought to the brink of war without "en the formality of discussions with the NATO powers leads me to feel that war could be declared and this country totally eliminated before anyone in the White House had bothered to tell us.

If Quoodle is happy with that State of affairs, good luck to him—I would like it established from the outset that none of the major powers take any step that could lead to global conflict without at least talking about it first. If that appears to be ludicrous, why not admit that the fate of the world

is solely in the hands of the Russians and Ameri- cans and drop out of our so-called alliances and let them get on with it? At least by doing that we could use the money wasted on defence to some useful purpose and make our last few weeks/months/, years of survival that much more comfortable.

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