Sir, - We are witnessing the unfolding of the last savage act of this millennium. Russian forces sit poised on the brink of perpetrating a genocidal massacre.
I am reminded of the days before President Slobodon Milosovic began bombarding Kosovo, when the world looked on and ordinary people wondered if the politicians they had elected were blind and deaf and had lost their sense of propriety and urgency in the face of a crisis which had not been witnessed since the days when Adolf Hitler carried out his atrocities.
I would remind all elected public representatives they have a moral responsibility to stand up and protest in the strongest possible way (and not just the odd memo carefully worded so as not to offend!)
I would ask every citizen who believes that we are witnessing a great injustice of staggering proportions, to please contact his/her local TDs and MEP and demand that they make strong representations through the Dail and European Parliament condemning President Yeltsin's assault on the people of Chechnya.
With elections looming in Russia, Yeltsin and Putin are susceptible to international diplomatic pressure and, as the Russian Federation cannot sustain a prolonged war in Chechnya, please let us all make every effort to avoid yet another slaughter of innocent civilians on this the eve of a new millennium. - Yours, etc.,
Christopher Dunne, Westbury Park, Lucan, Co Dublin.