Events in Belarus have historical importance as the first Internet revolution, says analyst

“It is no exaggeration” to say that what is occurring in Belarus now is of world-historical importance and will be studied for a long time to come as “an improbable phenomenon,” Russian historian Andrey Zubov says. It is “an example in pure form of a revolt of the masses of a cultured people against a harsh authoritarian dictatorship in the Internet era.”

The last portion of this is key, the analyst says. It is the Internet that “has allowed the people to organize themselves without charismatic leaders, without control of the post and telegraphs, television center or the typographies of newspapers” (newsru.com/blog/21sep2020/bel_rev.html).

A vote for Biden is a vote for the extreme radical left

Joe Biden has a history of failed races for president, having run in 1988 and gotten two delegates and in 2008, when he dropped out after a fifth-place finish in the Iowa Caucuses with less than 1 percent of the vote. Yet, today Mr. Biden is the Democratic Party’s nominee after all other contenders incredibly withdrew just before “Super Tuesday.” Did Mr. Biden make a Faustian bargain with the extreme radical left of what once was the Democratic Party?

This is not conjecture – read the 110-page “Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force Recom­men­dations,” a socialist manifesto that Mr. Biden signed with Sen. Sanders, the successor to another failed “Socialist Democrat” for president, Eugene V. Debs. The Biden-Sanders manifesto is every bit as radical as Mr. Sanders wanted. In May, Mr. Biden vowed that he wants “not just to rebuild the economy, but to transform it.” (The Wall Street Journal, “The Biden-Sanders Manifes­to,” July 30). The world has seen what a “transformed economy” looks like in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and the Soviet Union.

Ukrainian American politics: Vote!

“Wow! Very impressive!” is how Myron Kuropas in his recent column here described the “Ukrainian-Americans for Biden” ad on these pages which nearly 350 signed, including Republicans. (And me.)

For years, Dr. Kuropas was a top officer in the Ukrainian National Association (UNA); he is a lifelong Republican activist. Where he writes that President Gerald Ford appointed a Ukrainian as White House special assistant for ethnic affairs, he fails to note that person was him. He also writes that Sen. Bob Dole had a Ukrainian on his staff: that too was Dr. Kuropas.

Re: pro-Trump ad and a ruined church

Dear Editor:

I am writing in response to the full-page ad in support of Donald Trump’s re-election (September 20). The ad’s claims mirror those repeated by the late Stephen F. Cohen and other political “realists,” overstating the role that America had in instigating the war in the Donbas. They’re also often quoted by Russian propaganda, or hard-line ideological allies of Vladimir Putin, Bashar al-Assad, Nicolas Maduro, and others.

Something about the ad was fishy, so I decided to investigate, starting with the image of the ruined church. It turns out that’s a Russian Orthodox monastery destroyed by Ukrainian “Cyborgs” in 2014.

In defense of capitalism

Dear Editor:

A recent letter (August 16) trashed “American capitalism” and lauded BLM. Sonia Kowal tolerates no criticism of BLM and says detractors “betray their deep ignorance of American capitalism.” She then takes the vast but predictable leap: the truly enlightened know that capitalism is based on “prejudice” and “structural racism.”

What she espouses might be good for her company, but it betrays not a hint of knowing what capitalism is or what the leaders of BLM have admitted: that they are “trained Marxists.”

An egregious error in advertisement

Dear Editor:

Several points in the advertisement placed by the Suburban Council of Ukrainian Voters (September 20) require clarification. Despite President Petro Poroshenko’s rhetorical flourish about “blankets,” in fact, during the years of the Obama-Biden administration, Ukraine received $5.7 billion in aid that included training for Ukrainian special-ops and other forces, the provision of essential tracking equipment, valuable intelligence and security support, non-lethal weapons and a small number of lethal weapons. Among the aid was $3 billion in loan guarantees to help sustain Ukraine’s economy.

Why no names on Trump ad?

Dear Editor:

I was startled to find a full-page ad from “Ukrainian Americans for Trump” (August 30/September 6 issue) with a photo of the president with his trademark thumbs-up salute. Unlike in the ad several issues back by “Ukrainian Americans for Biden,” which listed the names of well over 100 supporters, this one listed no names whatsoever, but it did provide a website for more information. I went on that website as well as on several others for this organization, but could not find a single name listed.

‘Joe Biden: Ukraine’s outstanding friend.’ Really?

Dear Editor:

Regarding the column by Orest Deycha­kiw­sky (issue dated August 30/September 6), in the past there may have been good reasons to support the Democratic Party, but as I see it, not anymore. Sure, John F. Kennedy, a Democrat, put a man on the moon, but Barack Obama put a man in a female bathroom. JFK told Russians to go home when they came close to Cuba with their nuclear missiles, while Mr. Obama canceled the nuclear bases in Europe that were intended to hold the Russian aggressor at bay.

Biden presents the best choice

Dear Editor:

I write in response to Myron Kuropas’s column (August 23) not because I question his knowledge of early 20th century Ukrainian American history but because he seems to be stuck there, inferring that today’s Ukrainian American Democrats and supporters of Joe Biden are socialists. This makes no more sense than saying that Republicans who vote for Donald Trump are fascists and white supremacists. Both accusations are equally ridiculous.

Never have we had a president so unable to put together a stable group of Cabinet members and advisors or formulate a coherent foreign policy toward Ukraine or any of our allies. Never have we seen anything like the growing list of felony convictions of presidential associates while prominent members of the president’s own party publicly declare their vote for the opposing candidate. This is the party of Trump now.

Trump enabled Ukraine to have lethal weapons

Dear Editor:

My parents escaped communism. Under communism, someone could get a knock on the door at any time; someone could be taken away for questioning; opponents of Communists might never return.

I am a veteran. I believe there are many people in America who are brainwashed, and that there are Ukrainians in America who unwittingly have become communists because of the mass media.