The Economist - UK (2022-04-16)

16 The Economist April 16th 2022
Letters

Alesson from history

One historical case that has

been overlooked as a parallel

for the situation in Ukraine is

the Spanish civil war (“Why

Ukraine must win”, April 2nd).

From 1936 until 1939 European

democracies gave moral sup­

port to the republicans in that

conflict, but failed to provide

them with sufficient military

support to defeat Franco, the

dictator. They hesitated

because of internal domestic

divisions and for fear that they

would be stepping across a line

that would make them bellig­

erents in the war. As a result, a

few months after the fall of

Barcelona and Madrid, these

same European democracies

found themselves in a much

nastier war. They had Franco

on their consciences until he

died, in bed, in 1975.

We are at risk of repeating

that error today in Ukraine. As

you argue, no solution short of

a decisive military victory by

the Ukrainians will preserve

Western credibility and the

rule of law. Consequently,

three measures need to be

taken immediately: the estab­

lishment of clearly defined

"red lines" concerning the use

of chemical and nuclear weap­

ons; blocking swifttransfers

to all Russian banks and the

termination of Russian oil and

gas purchases that this would

imply; and providing the

Ukrainians with immediate

access to the entire Western

arsenal of defensive weapons.

But, like the Spanish civil war, I

fear Western democracies lack

the courage to implement

these measures.

matthew leitner

Former director of the exec­

utive masters in international

negotiation and policymaking

Graduate Institute of Inter­

national and Development

Studies (iheid)

Geneva

If victory in Ukraine is so

important to the West, then

why the hypocrisy of sending

weapons and other support

and letting the Ukrainians do

all the dying? If victory is so

important, why are we not

putting natoboots on the

groundandgivingUkraine

backtotheUkrainians?To

quotePrimoLeviregarding

anotherperiodofhorrific

atrocities,"Ifnotnow,when?"

michaelslater

SanLuisObispo,California

I applaudmostofyourposi­

tiononhelpingUkrainewin,

butI takeexceptiontoyour

recommendationto“bring

Ukraine’sgovernanceinline

withtheeu”. In“TheLightThat

Failed”,a bookthatseeksto

understandthecrisisinliber­

alism,IvanKrastevand

StephenHolmesputforwarda

theorythatholdingupone

systemofgovernmentasideal

hasledtoa nationalist

reactionandsupportforauto­

cracyinsomeeasternEuro­

peancountries.Hectoring

otherstofallinlinedoesnot

workeverywhere.

normaelliott

SealRock,Oregon

Missilesanddroneshave

renderedarmour­platedtanks

asobsoleteascavalryformil­

itarypurposes(“Loiteringwith

intent”,March26th).Perhaps

futureversionsofstealthy

nocturnaldronescouldbe

developedtocarryfoodand

medicalsupplies,makingit

pointlesstobesiegea city.

gilescamplin

London

Delivering reform for Africa

You are right to point out that

non­tariff barriers are a key

obstacle preventing the growth

of African trade (“Long walk to

free trade”, March 26th). Logis­

tics are a big part of that. Our

members (dhl, FedEx and ups)

are increasingly subjected to

draconian postal­licensing

regimes in Africa. These

licences are designed to stifle

competition and extract rev­

enue. They extend national

postal monopolies to logistics

and impose prohibitive fees

that increase the cost of doing

business. They fly in the face of

regulation standards that a

large group of wtomembers

have recently adopted.

An open and competitive

market for delivery services

would be an essential building

blockfortheAfricanConti­

nentalFreeTradeAgreement

toyielditsfullpotential.It

wouldallowAfricantradersof

allsizestoreachforeignmar­

ketsefficiently,bothwithin

Africaandworldwide.Thiscan

beachievedwhilemaintaining

a universalpostalservice,

whichisdistinctfromexpress

delivery.Sadly,manyAfrican

governmentsarechoosingto

gointheoppositedirection.

carlosgrautanner

Directorgeneral

GlobalExpressAssociation

Geneva

Asignofourtimes

Therehas,forgoodandill,

beena recentcross­pollination

ofanti­povertypolicybetween

theUnitedStatesandBritain

(“Thesocialexperiment”,April

2nd).A yearagothequeues

outsideBritishfoodbanks

wereshorteningandhundreds

ofthousandsofchildrenwere

beingliftedoutofpoverty.This

waslargelybecauseofthe

government’sdecisiontoraise

benefitpayments.

However,asinAmerica,the

increaseinbenefitpayments

provedtobetemporaryand

hasnowbeenwithdrawn.

Withthosepaymentsnow

laggingfarbehindinflation,

somefoodbankswithinour

networkarereportingtheir

busiestweekseverandfam­

iliesarearriving,inthewords

ofonevolunteer,withdesper­

ationwrittenovertheirfaces.

andrewforsey

Nationaldirector

FeedingBritain

London

What is a taco?

As a Mexican living in America

who has accidentally ordered

(and then proceeded to eat)

hard­shell tacos, I think your

article in praise of their mass

marketing did not convey the

main objection to them (“The

unreal McCoy”, April 2nd). It is

not about the food content, but

about the name. A taco is

anything that is wrapped in a

tortilla that has been warmed

up. That’s it. There are no

canons on Mexican food, but

we do need to get the names on

the menu right. 

Something similar to hard­

shell tacos already exists in our

Mexican menu: the tostada, a

deep­fried tortilla that has an

assortment of stuff on top of it,

such as ceviche or pig's trotter

in vinegar. One of the classic

versions has meat, lettuce,

tomato, cheese and cream.

Kudos to the American engi­

neering innovation that fried

these things in a wedge shape. 

As far as taste goes, if you

like hard­shell so called tacos,

go for it. Leave the good stuff

for the rest of us. 

javier madrid

Chicago

I enjoyed your article and

description of foodie culture.

But I contest your claim that

hard­shell tacos bear “little

relation to the real thing”. That

would have been a surprise to

my immigrant grandmother

(born in Irapuato, Mexico) as

she served us only hard­shell

tacos her entire life. I can

assure you she never went to a

Taco Bell nor succumbed to

“hard­shell” propaganda.

tony acosta

Redondo Beach, California

Also known as

There may be something to the

“name­letter effect”, the sub­

conscious bias that people

have for the letters in their

own name, and for their own

initials in particular (Bartleby,

March 19th). During my career

I was known as a major s.o.b.

major stephen borkowski

United States Air Force, (Ret)

Pittsburg, Texas

Energarchy in the UK

I read your leader on the new

age of energy insecurity

(“Power play”, March 26th). Is it

too soon (or late) to coin the

term “Energarchy”?

m.j. (thinus) booysen

Stellenbosch, South Africa

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