Why states fail
From R.L. O'Shaughnessy Sir: Bravo to Conrad Black on his piece (Britain is right to stick by America', 15 February)! Many readers must have been struck by the clarity of his remarks. It is not easy to speak the truth in Britain these days without being maligned as a fascist — or some other horrific organism — by leftish apostles of freedom.
Especially relevant to scores of people must have been his 'We should devise some form of trusteeship for failed states that stabilises them and prevents them becoming infestations of terrorists, like abandoned houses occupied by neighbourhood thugs.'
Black's suggestion seems very much more sensible than the noxious idiocy inherent in the famous classicist Andrew C,ohen's slogan unveiled at a conference in Cambridge in 1947: 'Self-government is better than good colonial government.'
Despite opposition from those with more practical experience, Cohen's brand of thinking was recklessly applied during the years that followed. The injurious results are easily discernible in so many of the failed states of today.
R.L. O'Shaughnessy
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Mr John Kelleher Sir: Conrad Black describes Konrad Adenauer's rejection of Stalin's offer of German unification in exchange for German neutrality as 'the greatest postwar act of statesmanship in any country'. In Germany it is seen somewhat differently.
Adenauer, a Catholic conservative from the state of North Rhein Westfalia in the west, had an instinctive dislike of Protestant Prussia, which dominated East Germany. Furthermore, the population of the states in the east traditionally voted for Adenauer's enemies in the socialist SPD. He rejected the offer because he had an election to win, which was no more noble than Chancellor Schroder's distinctly unstatesmanlike behaviour before the German elections last September.
John Kelleher
Berlin, Germany
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