The Green Revolution

The fact that Hizbullah knowingly triggered a senseless war with Israel, causing all of Lebanon to become engaged in a losing gamble, is absolutely outrageous. As Lebanese, we strongly believe in the democratic sovereign state of Lebanon and will not accept a militant faction operating within our country's borders under the patronage of two despotic regional players: Iran and Syria. It is important that the outcome of this war be a sustainable solution that endorses peace, growth and prosperity for both Lebanon and its neighbors. We simply cannot continue to diligently build sand castles and call them "home" and then watch them collapse at the whims of charismatic religious leaders. The Lebanese have had enough and want to live in peace.

Samar A. Layoun

via internet

Romania's Artistic Heritage

I have been reading NEWSWEEK for more than 25 years and find that you often write in a discriminatory way about countries like Romania ("East of the Louvre," June 19). It was sold out by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill to the Russians in 1945, and completely destroyed socially and economically for generations afterward. But Romania has, even today, the best museums in the whole of Eastern Europe--and this is not only in Bucharest. In my opinion it also has, by far, the best painters and sculptors in Eastern Europe--some of them even reaching world class--as good as many French impressionists, for example. Brancusi's best works are in New York and in Paris, and also in Romania.

Viorel V. Bucur