Greece: Neighborly Acts
I am writing regarding an error in "The Essence of Greece" special advertising section produced by Medialinks International, published in the April 21/April 28 edition of NEWSWEEK. Alexandros Tsiatsiamis, special secretary of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was quoted in the section using the term "Macedonia" to describe Greece's northern neighbor in the context of the Hellenic Plan for the Economic Reconstruction of the Balkans. As your publication may be aware, it is the Greek government's position that this country should be referred to as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Tsiatsiamis has always employed this term when referring to the country verbally or in writing. That said, what should be remembered is Greece's continued involvement in its neighbor's development through programs such as the Hellenic Plan for Economic Reconstruction of the Balkans. This key initiative will see Greece contribute some €550 million toward infrastructure and private projects in the region by 2011, thereby aiding economic progress in southeast Europe.
Nick Lyne
Medialinks International
London, England
The Depth of His Experience
What could be better for the United States than having a president who is "at home in the world" ("A Man at Home in the World," April 21/April 28)? Richard Wolffe's essay on Barack Obama's foreign-affairs experience is right on the mark. I was born and raised in the Netherlands and remember the Nazi occupation during my childhood, and I totally understand where Obama is coming from. His experiences are deeper and more varied. He also has the right temperament and the communication skills to connect with the rest of the world. His life experience and vast understanding of the world's problems will help avoid unnecessary and bloody conflicts, especially military ones. If and when that red phone rings at 3 a.m., I sincerely hope Obama is the one to pick it up. He would be thoughtful about the significance and consequences of any would-be emergency. We have a chance to make history. Let's use it wisely.
Tueke Van Werkhoven
Fleetwood, Pennsylvania
Is America ready for Barack Obama? More to the point, is America ready for John McCain and four more years of body bags and Uncle Sam's wealth leaving his land? With Senator Obama there's a feasible chance that things as they are won't remain the same.
Michael G. Driver
Ichihara City, Japan
Misrepresenting Conservatism
I would like to comment on a special report in your April 21/April 28 issue. The article "Following the Rules" gives Western women tips on what to do or not do while traveling in the Middle East and countries around the Persian Gulf. The article advises women to avoid any kind of behavior that might lead to cultural misunderstanding. It says that women should avoid too much eye contact and shouldn't get in the front seat of a taxi; these behaviors can be easily misunderstood. This reminds me of how some foreigners view my country, Turkey, as being the same as these Eastern countries. In the television and print media, they use images of Turkey's most conservative aspects while giving news about, for example, a political issue. Foreign TV channels broadcast images of women with headscarves, or magazine articles present pictures of mosques when the topic isn't even religion. However, Turkey, a secular country, a lot more modern than most of the Islamic countries in the Middle East.
Merve Erdogan
Istanbul, Turkey
Voices From Generation Petraeus
I applaud NEWSWEEK for recognizing the way America's officer corps has been transformed five years into the Iraq War ("Scions of the Surge," March 24). However, this is a debate that started many years ago. I used to be one of Capt. Tim Wright's West Point classmates. As an adviser to the Iraqi Army in 2005, I routinely found myself and my team at odds with our senior commanders over how to win the war. In military parlance, whoever controls or retains the key terrain possesses a decisive advantage. My chain of command continually emphasized that the Iraqi population was the key terrain. But despite my team's pleas to move on to the Iraqi base, the same chain of command rejected our request outright due to "risk." Our forces migrated to larger and larger U.S. bases, areas complete with coffee shops and a Burger King. Like Captain Wright, we expressed our thoughts to an incoming American unit on cohabitating with the Iraqis, only to be dismissed by our senior officers again. I left the Army after six years in the infantry and, like many of my peers, entered business school. The war has vanished from my life not because I wanted it to, but because I became a "normal" American. Staying connected to the war in a meaningful way was difficult, even for someone who fought in it. The modern military experience is one of incredible burdens and isolation. Rather than your cover line, THE PETRAEUS GENERATION, a more fitting description might be THE DECOUPLED GENERATION.
Brad Thompson
Atlanta, Georgia
As an "old generation" soldier, I am gratified to see an Army leadership finally emerge that understands we must be prepared for all contingencies. When I arrived as a young lieutenant colonel on the U.S. Army's Command and General Staff College faculty in 1981, my instructions were to keep the counterinsurgency doctrine alive until such time as we could have leadership that would "get it." At that time the Army's premier school for developing senior leadership devoted all of nine hours out of a curriculum of more than 1,600 hours to counterinsurgency. When I left the faculty for another assignment, we were up to about 33 hours—still woefully inadequate. Thankfully, Gen. David Petraeus, Capt. Tim Wright and many other fine leaders at all levels of our Army "get it."
Col. James young,U.S. Army (Ret.)
Pinehurst, North Carolina
Stephen Mcmillan, all governments in the world officially recognize Tibet to be a part of China. In fact China has occupied Tibet much longer the white men has occupied North America. So before you preach about Chinese imperialism, why don't you first campaign for your white folks to dissolve the United States, leave Canada, Australia and New Zealand, pay compensation for your genocide and return the land to the natives?
Stephen Mcmillan, if China imperialism is not tolerated. How about the US? Should America be dissolved right now? Not one inch of that land that is modern day America was not got from imperialism and genocide. Who should be more ashamed. I don't think the ultimate occupier in the whole of human history shoud have any right to lecture others
??? @Pui-Ying Hui:
@StephenMcmillan:
When referring to China, people in the west or those once educated under the colonialism tend to think China is just a country of Han Chinese despite of the open fact that it has been a multinational country over 2000 thousand years starting from Qin Dynasty, not counting its civilizations for another 3000 years before Qin that unified a dozen of kingdoms into China as it is now. But the territory of China was expended or shrunken over years of dynasty changes that had been going on until Qing dynasty of 1911. Various nationalities were separated or united with the territorial variations at different periods until the final unification as a state of China that has been ruled by 3 of the 56 nationalities historically, namely Han, Mongolian and Manchu. Whatever nationality is or was in power is always regarded as legitimate as they are or were all Chinese. Chinese history has never skipped Yuan dynasty and Qing dynasty that were ruled respectively by Mongolians and Manchu. This part of Chinese history shouldn???t be omitted just because China was ruled during these periods of time by the ethnic nationalities. The emperor of Yuan conferred title Dalai to the head of Tibetan theocracy and since then all Dalai's have to be appointed and approved by the central Chinese governments. Even now the present 14th Dalai dares not say he wants Tibet independent for his title would be automatically removed if he does so. The present Chinese capital Beijing is also the formal capital of Yuan Dynasty(called Dadu) the emperor of which is always held by Chinese as their ancestor in spite of his background of ethnic nationality as the rest of 54 other nationalities who are all Chinese nationals just as Scottish British, Welsh British and Irish British in UK. When Tibetan Chinese are singled out to abuse China and its government amongst all those situations that bear similarities or even much worse in the west as in Britain, France, Spain, or USA, it couldn't be more obvious that the intention of those devious minds is of no constructive and conducive approach in rendering stability in the Chinese Tibetan region where Tibetan Chinese have been enjoying unprecedented freedom and economic success together with the rest of the multi-national Chinese family under the leadership of the central Chinese government. The hope to be placed on the new generation for any attempt to slice Tibet from the rest of China will certainly prove futile as having been shown in the torch relay the anger and indignation erupted amongst the Post-80s( refer to those born after 1980). It is even harder for the west to face the younger generation of a strong and well-off China. Chinese would rather give up anything than stability and prosperity achieved so far. Only by knowing Chinese mentality can the west really understand them better and deal with them in a right manner.
MEDIA Just a year after buying The Wall Street Journal, the press rapscallion has revitalized the fusty paper.
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