Gaza war phase
Re: "Answering my critics about the war in Gaza", (Opinion, Aug 19) & "Indefensible Israel", (PostBag, July 11).
The war in Gaza will soon be entering its critical phase, in which there will be heavy ground fighting between Israeli troops and Gazans.
I think we can now all agree that too many normal Gazan people have died and are now being purposefully starved by the Israeli government, which for months has denied the Palestinians truckloads of food.
World opinion is now firmly on the side of the Palestinians. Western people can now see that they have been duped by their governments into believing that many Palestinians belong to the terrorist organisation Hamas and thus need to be stopped in their tracks.
Au contraire, it is the Israelis who need to be stopped! It is clear now who the aggressor is.
Jews such as Eric Bahrt need to be given credit for standing up to Israel a long time before the war had started.
Paul
Cartel crackdown
Re: "A war of words", (PostBag, Sept 10) & "Maduro eyes talks after Trump threat", (World, Sept 7).
Surpassed only by Sudan, Venezuela is home to the world's second-largest displacement crisis, with over 7.9 million people having fled the country by late 2024.
The US has indicted Venezuelan officials, including Nicolás Maduro, on narcoterrorism charges, accusing them of conspiring with cartels to distribute and sell massive amounts of cocaine to fund their repressive government.
These facts are indisputable, yet ML Saksiri Kridakorn states that US President Donald Trump instituted "aggressive counternarcotics pressure targeting non-existent cartels allegedly linked to Venezuela," to "advance the US war business".
This is doubly false. The cartels are very real and, to the US military-industrial complex, blowing up a "cigarette" boat full of cocaine and narcos isn't even popcorn in their view.
Michael Setter
Real leaders needed
Re: "No 'New World Order', only global disorder", (Opinion, Sept 9).
The latest world events make it difficult to see who is on whose team, and there is a potential for some great and deadly mistakes.
We have just seen Poland, a member of Nato, shooting down Russian drones that crossed Polish territory. These are the type of events that can lead to direct conflict, so hopefully it was just a misguided Russian drone rather than a guided one.
The other incident was the Israeli attack on their enemies, Hamas, in Qatar, one of the countries working to resolve the Middle East conflicts. Bombing someone who is trying to help you will only lead to another quarrel that may last for decades.
There is a need for a great leader, a great negotiator, but they are rare, and some, including Henry Kissinger and Nelson Mandela, have left us already. President Donald Trump presumes to fill the role but lacks the skills, patience or honest intent and really only seeks to profit from his endeavours.
We need to look for that great inspiration, or many will suffer and die.
Dennis Fitzgerald
