Sir, - There were no sanctions against Britain after the sinking of the Belgrano, nor against France after the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior. The US gets away with the lethal boycott of Cuba, with wars against the Vietnamese and the Iraqis. The Chinese exterminate Tibetans and their culture, the Turkish government does this with the Kurds, the Russians with the Chechens.
Austria gets the big stick for what one party leader stupidly said - and what a quarter of the population doesn't have much of a problem with. But they don't have a lobby in the US. Those who have should perhaps be reminded that until not so long ago the Austrians elected a Jewish prime minister. A nation of racists?
So why all this hypocrisy and hysteria?
Could the problem be that EU politicians know quite well that Haider is no fanatical fascist, and that they fear him precisely because he is a populist, a gut-feeling opportunist. Which is what they all aspire to be: these Conservatives who don't conserve anything, these Liberals who don't liberate anybody, these Socialists who don't socialise anything, but all of whom want to be the new centre. Yet they see how people care less and less about their image-creation and tactical spins from PR agencies. Here someone has called their bluff - and they panic. - Yours etc., Lothar Luken,
Dromore, Bantry, Co Cork.