Letters

Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s address to the U.S. Congress was heart rending. But his plea — create a no-fly zone over Ukraine and bring to Ukraine Russian S-300s — is dangerous. In order to save his country from destruction, he wants to risk the war spreading to Western Europe and the U.S. If NATO did his bidding, World War III might ensue.

We lament and cry with Zelenskyy. But shouldn’t someone remind him, and NATO, that for at least the last eight years, since Crimea, but actually for this entire century, NATO and Ukraine have been playing a dangerous game with Russia? Haven’t they flirted with war every time they have, since George W. Bush declared, in open challenge to Russia, that Ukraine should join NATO? It would have happened, too, if Germany and France — two countries that do not have pleasant memories of war with Russia — had not vetoed the idea.

We should not totally ignore Russia’s complaints about discrimination practiced by the Ukraine administration against some ethnic Russians; neither should we continue to support those reckless Americans, usually Republicans, who support escalating the war by giving Ukraine and Zelenskyy whatever he asks.

Shivaji Sengupta

Medford