Letters to the Editor for March 6

What would we sacrifice for peace?

At a demonstration attended by half a million people in Berlin protesting Putin’s War in Ukraine, a sign was seen stating “I’m willing to freeze for peace.” In a country which has seen up close the devastation which war can bring, people are willing to sacrifice temporary quality of life for the sake of stopping a mad man who is intent on building his legacy no matter what the cost.

Meanwhile, in this country, the top story in the news, after covering the true carnage unleashed in the Ukraine, is a breathless report on the “soaring” price at the pump. In Germany on Feb. 28, GlobalPetrolPrices.com reported that gasoline costs an average of $2.039/liter, which converts to $7.72/gal, verses the current (March 4) AAA national average of $3.837/gal in the U.S.

So this begs the question: What sacrifices are we Americans willing to pay to help the world avoid another global conflict which could result in our obsession with the price of gas seeming rather pointless? We are very good at wringing our collective hands in sympathy for the millions of Ukrainians fleeing their homeland under the onslaught of bombs and missiles targeting their cities and homes, but what price are we willing to pay to help stop this crime against humanity? Do we have the guts and spine to do our part? Or will we depend on other folks making the sacrifices for us? What are we willing to sacrifice for peace?

Joe Sundeen

Lower Makefield

We all should care about Ukraine

The crisis in Ukraine is not just a Ukraine or United States problem, but a free world problem. No nation wants to send its finest, those serving in the military, onto another continent to fight a war. The U.S. learned that people fighting in their own nation, for their own nation, remember Vietnam or Afghanistan, will fight harder than those with less at stake. Vladimir Putin is learning that as I write. What is needed is a coalition of free world and NATO forces, united as one to oppose the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces. George H.W. Bush did this in both gulf wars with great success and fewer casualties than would have occurred otherwise.

It may not be possible to avoid any actual conflict, but a bully will not stop bullying without someone or something standing up to him.

Some pundits on the right say "who cares about Ukraine?". We all should. Because what happens to Ukraine will and has already affected the entire free world. The free world should hang together, or we will hang separately, to paraphrase Benjamin Franklin.

James Seyboldt

Warminster

‘Daunting challenges’ mostly self-inflicted

In his cursory review of the problems facing America Joe Biden spoke of the "daunting challenges at home and overseas". What he ignored was the fact that most of these "challenges" were self-inflicted and the remedies are near at hand.

Members of both sides of the aisle are telling him to get our nation back to energy independence, but for some reason the uber-progressives hold sway in his teetering administration.

Stephen Hanover

Plumsteadville

Why such a large headline on climate letter?

How do you explain the front-page-feature-sized headline for the Feb. 22 letter to the editor screaming: "Climate warnings fall on my deaf ears". Even some of the front page headlines regarding the Ukraine invasion have been no bigger.

Rather than printing the letter, it would have been better to politely suggest it be updated with something pertinent from the last four decades. Literally, the most recent headline cited in the letter is more than 40 years old. The implication is that we’ve learned nothing in the last four decades even though the warmest seven years on record have all been since 2015.

The thoughtful rebuttal by Frank Fiorentino appearing two days later included the line “I sincerely hope that my letter gets the same bad heading…” Alas, it did not. To my eye, it appears to be the same font size as the letters are printed, albeit in bold.

Why the emphasis for a letter that cannot even cite supporting information that is less than 40 years old?

Jeff Cogshall

Doylestown Township

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Letters to the Editor for March 6