Ukraine's Alphabet Is Russian No Longer
In the article ``Jews Find Complex Ties with the New Ukraine,'' April 20, the Ukrainian words Holos Natsiyi (The Voice of the Nation, the Ukrainian National Assembly newspaper) were transliterated to the Russian, Golus Natsii. The spelling of the Ukrainian city L'viv was also changed to the Russian, Lvov. This is deeply insulting to Ukrainians, who endured decades of forced Russification, which included the substitution of the Russian ``g'' for the Ukrainian ``h.''
The author also stresses the negative over the positive. Why not accentuate how far Ukrainian-Jewish communal ties have advanced in Ukraine, especially when compared with the virulent Zhirinovskian anti-Semitism in Russia?
Why not remark that Ukraine officially marks Jewish holidays, which affect 1 percent of the population? Why dedicate so much of an article on current events to Nazi atrocities, which, though deplorable, are not current?
Articles such as this serve no function other than to reopen past wounds and fan the flames of ethnic hatred. Vsevolod A. Onyshkevych, Princeton, N.J.
Nuclear: the environment's friend
It is impossible for the United States to meet its commitments to reducing global-warming gases without the large-scale use of nuclear energy (``US Slips in Cutting Back on `Greenhouse Gas,' '' April 20.)
Conservatively, the use of nuclear power has reduced potential annual carbon-dioxide emissions in the US by 10 percent. Over the past 20 years, the use of nuclear fuel has prevented 1.6 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from being released.
Unless we begin strategic planning that includes nuclear power, these savings will begin to erode. Early in the next century, the first group of the current generation of nuclear plants will begin to reach the end of their operational lives. This, coupled with the apparent inexorable rise in electrical demand despite active conservation programs, means that more power will have to come from burning fossil fuels.
We have a technology that can be an important player in controlling greenhouse gas emissions. Let us take care not to allow ideology to interfere with the practical means for dealing with this potentially devastating environmental problem. Theodore M. Besmann, Oak Ridge, Tenn.
A long divisive history
Fortunately for America, President Clinton and the United States Congress have a more balanced view than the author of the opinion-page article ``Clinton on Wrong Side of Jerusalem Issue,'' April 27, who opposes removal of the ``occupied'' label from East Jerusalem.
The land east of the Jordan River became independent in 1946 and changed its name to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 1949. During the Arab-Israeli war of 1948-49, the Jordanians overran a large area of the river's west bank.
Jordan was driven from its West Bank-annexed territory and East Jerusalem when the Israelis won the Six-Day War in 1967. This is when the history of the Middle East began for the author and current journalism.
The author also resurrects the 1947 United Nations effort to internationalize Jerusalem without also saying that, since 1947, Palestinians and Israelis have been one in rejecting this Christian-inspired idea.
As a Roman Catholic, I wince when recalling it was the Vatican (Pope Pius XII) who inspired the idea and pushed it in order to regain influence in an area lost to the church since the Crusades.
At this time in history, attempts to implement such a policy would produce a joint Palestinian-Israeli military effort to resist. Then it was Pius XII's religious interests. Today it is Euro-oil interests. Amy Sharp, Bellevue, Wash.
Life, liberty, and a lawyer
Regarding the front-page article ``Health Plan Options,'' April 13: After this health-care business is settled, the next problem we should tackle on the domestic front is that of legal services for individuals. After doctors, lawyers are our most expensive professionals.
There are already a few groups offering legal services in return for a prepaid annual subscription fee, in the same manner that health-maintenance organizations offer doctors' services as needed.
As with the Clinton and other proposed health-care plans, a person could still choose his own attorney, but at a higher cost. Poor people would be included in the plan at public expense, as they will be under the proposed health-care plans.
This system would reduce the cost to an individual of hiring a lawyer when needed, just as the health insurance plans will lower the cost of doctors and hospitals. No one would be without legal representation and the quality of such representation would not suffer - would it? Hubert McLoughlin, Gulf Shores, Ala.
An explosive rendering of Buthelezi
The editorial cartoon (March 30) of Mangosuthu Buthelezi about to hurl his head, as an ignited bomb - presumably at the African National Congress - is exceptionally offensive. I just hope that it will never be seen by his many followers and admirers. It could do untold damage to the reputation of the Monitor and its avowed purpose: ``To injure no man, but to bless all mankind.''
Chief Buthelezi may have been misguided in his recent intransigence, which now appears to be moderating, but he has done much for the Zulu nation over the years, besides now having acquired a modicum of independence for his proud and freedom-loving people.
Moreover, throughout the years of apartheid he worked for the release of Nelson Mandela. H.A. Corrin, Constantia, South Africa
