Below is the Letter to the Editor the New York Times published online on August 5, 2022, from Florida Veterans for Common Sense member, Mel Goodman, about Vladimir Putin and Russia.
To the Editor:
Re “Putin Performs for Russia, and Ukraine Is the Stage,” by Peter Pomerantsev (Sunday Opinion, July 31):
Mr. Pomerantsev’s excellent analysis of President Vladimir Putin’s manipulation of the Russian “cycle of humiliation and aggression” reminds me of the Russian folk saying “Never carry garbage outside the hut.”
The Russians will never acknowledge or memorialize their self-inflicted pain because they refuse to present their failures and shortcomings to the outside world. Russians believe that doing so would risk allowing foreigners to exploit such vulnerabilities.
Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, remains vilified in Russian society for his adoption of glasnost, which would have allowed public debate and scrutiny of Russian failures over the years and which the traditionalists opposed.
Melvin A. Goodman
Bethesda, Md.
The writer, a former C.I.A. Russia analyst, is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington and an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University.
Thanks Mel,
We will never grow out of a time in human history where their aren’t those leaders who annihilate other humans because they can.
There is no chance for us to turn the corner to defend ourselves from what power and greed creates.
History keeps repeating itself where slaughter and depravity never goes away. I have always been an optimist but I am finding that sense is changing.
Your profile of the Putin/Ukraine development helps in such a big way to encapsulate how degenerative as a human race we have become or as I would argue have always been.
I am a member of FLVCS. I am a Vietnam Veteran. I was a teacher that hoped through education, our future citizens would not repeat the mistakes of the past. I failed. I wasted 36 years of my life. I just have to look out my window and see daily evidence of the hate and ignorance that prevails and I guess always will.
Thanks for all you do Mel.
John Reynolds.
John,
Unless the likes of Putin were your students, you shouldn’t use their actions to judge your life. Teachers can have significant positive affects on their students lives. I know some of my teachers influenced mine greatly. I’m sure your teaching did the same for your students. Students only rarely thank their teachers. I was able to thank a few, but not all that deserved it.
John, Welcome home brother. John you didn’t waste 36 years of your life. You served a purpose in life and did your best. Hopefully the majority of Americans will elect honest and sensible politicians to put a stop to the hate and ignorance from a minority of extreme political loud mouths. Keep the faith John.
We can only hope that the longer Putin continues his “military operation”, the sooner the Russian people will become angry at the mounting number of deaths, and financial pressure that Putin’s stupid stunt has caused, and will lead to growing Russian civil unrest.
J.P. Mastrorilli
1st Air Cav 67-68