Sir, - Is there the slightest possibility that Damien Flinter (October 13th) might allow Ireland a moderate amount of responsibility to the rest of Europe in joining the Partnership for Peace? Ireland is, after all, a part of Europe and of a union that is expanding significantly to the east. Perhaps Mr Flinter has forgotten that west of the Urals there occurred the most devastating and genocidal wars ever fought on the face of the earth, and that European war and genocide has returned to haunt us in the 1990s? If we cannot assist in maintaining peace in our backyard, what can we do for the East Timors of the world?
While China sabre-rattles, bullies its neighbours and keeps Tibet under an iron heel, when Russia invades Chechnya, India oppresses Kashmir, and countries like Iraq, North Korea and Serbia are kept under ruthless dictatorships, it is sad that the only evil Mr Flinter sees in the world is IMF loans. For all we know, globalisation may mean Russian troops have bellies full of Irish beef when they ravage Grozny for the second time, and the Chinese secret police keep surveillance files stored on Irish-made computer equipment. If he wants to stop globalisation, perhaps he should start at home.
Mr Flinter poses a false conflict between PfP and the UN. But if the leading PfP nations are "former colonialists", where does that leave the Security Council of the UN, where those same nations have seats? If Mr Flinter wants to oppose the US, Britain and France at the UN, he must be proposing some sort of alliance with Russia or China, two countries with a colonial record as bad and as current as any in the West. Alternatively, he must be advocating a spurious "third way", where Ireland assumes a virtuous posture against "globalisation" while hypocritically taking advantage of its economic opportunities. A previous correspondent sought a convincing argument against joining PfP; Mr Flinter fails to provide it. - Yours, etc., Toby Joyce,
Windermere, Grange Road, Clonsilla, Dublin 15.