President Putin in Russia has most probably promised the United States rich trade deals provided that he can keep control of the land in Ukraine that he has stolen.
In the future Russia may be tempted to steal more land from her neighbours. A country engaging in aggression should never be rewarded because they will never be satisfied and they will usually resort to threats and false promises.
Johann Nordberg, Paeroa.
Trump’s a glove-puppet
We’ve just seen the greatest humiliation in US history. The meeting in the Oval Office between Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy established beyond doubt that Trump is the glove-puppet of Vladimir Putin.
Trump asked Zelenskyy to accept a peace deal in which Putin kept the territory he holds in Ukraine, but without any security guarantee from the US/Nato. When Zelenskyy protested that “You can’t trust Putin” and gave many examples, Trump told him he was being “disrespectful”.
But disrespectful to whom? Not to the US, but to Trump’s boss, Putin. So Zelenskyy was expelled from the White House.
The next step will be the US withdrawing assistance to Ukraine, and giving Putin a free hand in the invasion of all former Soviet colonies.
Is this what Trump meant when he described himself as the world’s greatest negotiator, and he would get a peace deal within days?
John Reardon, Ōrewa.
Point of difference
The crude and ignorant way that Trump treated the beleaguered President of Ukraine should be a wake-up call for our country.
We don’t want to ally ourselves with a country that believes might is right, and is now run by greedy oligarchs. It’s time the rest of us (that is most other countries) refuse to be bullied by the US or any other country that has no respect for human rights of any sort.
Our values must be clearly articulated by our leaders. Community, not greed, should be our guiding principle. Luckily we have the unique example of Māori values towards community pride and sharing, shown in the recent national kapa haka festival.
These values should be our point of difference and it’s time we embraced them. That would be an excellent start.
Vivien Fergusson, Mt Eden.
Strait furies
Cook Strait can be a turbulent crossing so NZ needs a ferry service that can operate consistently.
The tired old unmaintained current ferries are too small and unreliable in rough weather. Nicola Willis made a huge mistake with her knee-jerk cancellation of inflation cost-proof mega rail ferries, instead awarding non-productive landlords the terminal costs as tax cuts.
Now Winston Peters appears to be negotiating smaller rail-enabled replacements which will not withstand Cook Strait furies and will delay container transferring at both ports either side.
Why are politicians so stupidly lacking in common sense in planning for the future?
Marie Kaire, Whangārei.
Retail security
Every shop owner should have an alarm and a baseball bat.
On hearing an alarm, willing shopkeepers could run to help their colleagues. They could have practice drills.
They would get a valuable sense of security, and community spirit. Those afraid for their own safety could stay in their own shops.
Chris Elias, Parnell.
Wide of the mark
Nothing in cricket is more spectacular among the nine forms of possible dismissal than a “bowled decision” when bails fly and wickets rattle.
This spectacle these days is being debased in the limited overs form of the game, where bowlers in their efforts to restrict the runs scored by their opposition now avoid bowling directly at the stumps. In fact an optimal delivery nowadays is to bowl as wide of the wickets as is permissible.
To further limit the use of such negative and undesirable tactics the practice of consistently bowling wide should be either outlawed completely or limited to no more than say one deliberate wide of the wicket delivery per over.
Larry Mitchell, Rothesay Bay.
Multiple choice
May I suggest a cost-effective solution for a multitude of issues that New Zealand faces? Nuclear-powered and armed rail ferries. No need for a second harbour bridge, an instant alliance with the USA and the ability to move vast numbers of Cook Islanders to China.
Stewart Hawkins, St Heliers.
