Dear Editor
Dear Editor Reactions You were too kind in the "Between Issues" column of April 7-21 chastising the Nation for publishing Gore Vidal's anti-Semitic screed in marking its 120th anniversary. The...
...Or the fundamentalists like Jerry Falwell, who establish limits on discussion...
...policy vis-a-vis the Soviet Union...
...In proudly catering to the far Left, the Nation has for a long time now been publishing equally insidious if somewhat more subtle articles on Israel and on its American supporters—all in the guise of "prompting people to debate," of course, as Nation editor Victor Navasky puts it...
...I have admired its intellectual honesty and courage through the years...
...You are also too optimistic...
...Montross, Va...
...I am an old Socialist who has taken and been enriched by your journal since the early 1930s...
...After 40 years we have no peace and no prospects of peace...
...Now I wonder...
...Is it gone forever...
...And internally Israel is a mess, torn by bitter factional quarrels, corruption, religious fanaticism, etc...
...No doubt there are Kremlin fundamentalists who still adhere to this conviction and act accordingly...
...And let us not forget that there is an ever growing population in Central Asia which has a definite relationship with the Islamic people on the southern border of the Soviet Union...
...Frankly, this hysterical tone does not become your journal...
...This kind of close-mindedness brings back memories of the Stalinists, who responded with vile names when anyone questioned their orthodoxy...
...As a matter of fact, while the Soviets undoubtedly regard us as their most dangerous antagonist at the present time, they are at least equally concerned with the pressure the more than 1 billion Chinese are bound to exert some years from now on their Asiatic region...
...Still, it was good to see The New Leader coming out swinging for a change...
...The "Between Issues" ends with the suggestion that the Nation try to take a more honest approach to the world's problems...
...Its economy is in a shambles and is only viable by enormous contributions from American taxpayers...
...The article was not an aberration...
...A refresher course in geopolitics is definitely in order for our policymakers in Washington...
...What has happened to the great dream we had...
...The over 2 billion people living to the east and south of the Soviet Union are not likely to ever accept any Moscow diktat...
...While in the '50s and '60s the concept of ever expanding Soviet rule may have had some justification —especially after Nikita Khrushchev's remark that the Soviets "will bury us"—to hold on to this belief as this century nears its end is both absurd and actually dangerous for the formulation of a realistic U.S...
...Can something be saved of what once was a great hope...
...Do you really think there is the remotest possibility of that happening...
...But we must give the new Soviet leadership credit for looking at the world with 1986 eyes and understanding the geopolitics of the present...
...Los Angeles Davtd McClosky I was appalled and dismayed by the tone of your April 7-21 "Between Issues...
...While the concept of a state based on a religion or a race has always seemed contrary to the needs of modern life, I always thought that the idealistic values of Israel and its founders would make such a great contribution to the Middle East and the world that we could well overlook that aspect...
...Israel has failed to accommodate itself to its neighbors...
...John W. Piercey Soviet Reality As much as I enjoyed reading Peter Kenez' review of Seweryn Bialer's book The Soviet Paradox (NL, April 7-21), and agreed with most of it, I think the time has come to disassociate ourselves from the belief that the Kremlin believes in the eventual Soviet hegemony of the world...
...White Plains, N. Y. Walter A. Sheldon...
...But I have seen little of the strident polemics one sees in other such journals...
...And now you write that the basic problems of Israel are not to be discussed...
...Realizing its connections to the Jewish community, I expect a certain bias on issues related to Israel...
...I have always had a basic sympathy with Israel...
Vol. 69 • June 1986 • No. 9
