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Posted June 28, 2001
"Refreshing" Matuszak
Matuszak is refreshing to read, with an artless writing style. His eyewitness account of the Chinese school system and the Chinese youth is enlightening. Indeed our beltway's choice of pressuring China with human rights, Tibet, and Taiwan has resulted in the opposite effect of the original intent. Instead of diminishing the Communist Party, we have turned the youth of China against us.
~ A. Ewing
AntiAmerica.com?
…The name of your site …should …be AntiAmerica.com. All I read are criticisms of the US and no mention of the abuses perpetrated by other powers such as China and Russia. There is much to criticize about 20th century American foreign policy… However, when all of the sins are counted against the contributions, I think the historical record will look like the following:
The history of the 20th and 21st centuries will be summed up …by saying that the United States destroyed two totalitarianisms …and ushered in a long period of peace and prosperity, in which …the vast majority of …people enjoyed liberty. The stabilizing influence of the American president, which derives from the immense strategic power that he commands, as well as the basic goodwill of the American people, will be credited with ending the scourge of war that has plagued mankind since prehistoric times.
~ W. McElgin
The Backtalk editor replies:
Didn't proponents of the British Empire make the same claim (just prior to the world wars)? Perhaps if the British Empire had included the "stabilizing influence of the …president" the Anglo-American Century would not have been the most murderous in world history.
Antiwar.com has tended to concentrate on American (rather than Russian or Chinese) interventionism – though not to the exclusion of all else, as your letter implies. Since Antiwar.com was founded, in 1995, the US military has bombed Bosnia, Iraq, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Bulgaria (accidentally), Afghanistan, Sudan, and a Chinese embassy. During the same time period, the Russian and Chinese militaries have attacked no foreign countries (though the Russian military has battled secessionists).
Albanian & Montenegrin Writers
Your web site publishes a weekly analysis from Serb analyst Nebojsa Malic. It would be fair and in the strong interest of Antiwar.com to publish in the same time opinions from Albanian, Montenegrin and/or other sources (that do not fall against the general viewpoints of your editorial staff) not less qualified than Mr. Malic. This would show respect for your readers that condemn the violence regardless of which side it comes. If failing to do so, your site will seriously risk failing …readers' expectations. For example, some are arguing that you failed to announce the recent discoveries of a number of massive graves in Serbia! I still hope that they have just missed the news.
~ Ruben Avxhiu, Staff Writer, Illyria Newspaper, New York
The Backtalk editor replies:
Antiwar.com would be happy to publish opinions from Albanian or Montenegrin sources that are consistent with our editorial viewpoint. Please email us with any appropriate news or opinion pieces that we may have missed.