Madam, - As the Russian tanks turn away from Tbilisi, there will be much discussion about the weakness of "Western countries" in dealing with the South Ossetia conflict. This debate is important, but there is a very simple fact that runs the risk of being overlooked.
The EU did not send an army into Georgia. Instead, we sent diplomats.
The Georgian conflict is a grave yet practical example that highlights the frailty of a perpetual myth about the EU - the myth that the EU will somehow be able to force Ireland to relinquish neutrality while conscripting Irish men and women into an pan-European army.
If this is the case, where are the EU troops?
These are the facts. The EU does not have an army. The EU cannot declare military war on another country. The EU cannot enforce conscription on any country. The EU cannot force us to give up our neutrality nor can it ask Austria, Sweden, Finland and Malta (our fellow EU states that are also neutral) to do the same. The EU can offer peacekeeping, but it cannot invade.
The EU was founded in peacetime by those who had suffered through war - by leaders who chose negotiation over conflict for our economic, social and political advancement.
So, a deal, however tentative, has been struck in Georgia. And while EU politicians may not have played the most overt role, it should be noted that they were not busying themselves with drafting of conscription letters. EU people were there as brokers, realising that negotiation, not army tanks, will lead the way to consensus. - Yours, etc,
MICHELLE O'DONNELL KEATING, Simmonscourt, Dublin 4.
Madam, - Regarding Nato's pledge that Georgia will one day become a member of the alliance ( The Irish Times, August 13th), Irish CND would like your readers to consider the following points.
There are over 25,000 nuclear weapons in the world and, despite the ending of the Cold War, several thousand of these remain on high alert, ready for almost instantaneous launch. As Russia and the United States have, between them, 95 per cent of this stockpile, it is essential that they co-operate to effect any move towards nuclear disarmament, as otherwise other nuclear-armed states will not join in the process.
The continued practice of nuclear "sharing" - whereby some Nato countries (UK, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Holland and Turkey) host US nuclear weapons - is perceived in Russia as a failure of the US and Nato to reciprocate the far-reaching steps Russia took in dissolving the Warsaw Pact and ending the Cold War. This impedes efforts to negotiate with Russia over reductions of non-strategic nuclear weapons.
Locating Nato bases in Eastern Europe (despite a prior US promise that there would be no new bases in new Nato countries) has fuelled Russian resentment and added to the impediments to a nuclear-weapon-free world.
Russia has been threatening to redeploy its nuclear weapons if Nato comes right up to its borders - ie, in Georgia and the Ukraine. We would then be right back to the Cold War. - Yours, etc,
MARY McCARRICK, Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, PO Box 6327, Dublin 6.
Madam, - The proxy war in Georgia is now over and both superpowers are now facing each other out in the open. Russian and American armed forces are both in Georgia, purportedly for humanitarian purposes, but in reality both are abusing their military might to attain strategic interests in the area.
While an East-West conflict is remote, both superpowers continue to play their war games at the expense of human life. Wars are hell for ordinary people but superpower ideology considers deaths, injuries and the displacement of people caused by their manipulation of strategic countries as "collateral damage".
The only winner in this escalation of tension is the arms industry. It's not surprising to find that the two largest arms exporters in the world are the US and Russia. It's time for the world's citizens to demand its right to peace. - Yours, etc,
BRENDAN BUTLER, NGO Peace Alliance, Phibsboro Road, Dublin 7.
Madam, - On Wednesday President Bush announced that the US would be sending "humanitarian" aid to Georgia. A few hours later the arrival of the first planes was reported.
I'm sure the people of New Orleans are quite envious and wonder why they waited so long after Hurricane Katrina.
But then, they live in Louisiana. - Yours, etc,
DARA GALLAGHER, Crampton Buildings, Temple Bar, Dublin 2.