Authoritarian
2: of, relating to, or favoring a concentration of power in a
leader or an elite not constitutionally responsible to the people
: of or relating to a political regime based on
subordination of the individual to the state and strict control of all
aspects of the life and productive capacity of the nation especially by
coercive measures (such as censorship and terrorism)
Letters to the Editor,
January 31, 2022
Amotz Asa-El
contends that Israel must not take sides in the Ukraine-Russia conflict. He is
dead wrong. For two reasons. Russia is part of the new
authoritarian/totalitarian axis consisting of Russia, China and Iran in which
Iran is an existential threat to Israel. So it would be quite hypocritical to
ignore one aggression and then expect others to condemn Iran when it threatens
with the annihilation of Israel.
Second,
Israel is a democracy and should side with democracies against dictatorships.
Wars are very rarely fought between democracies. NATO is not a threat to Russia
and never has been. It was formed as a defensive alliance and Putin is
manufacturing the threat to justify the intervention in Ukraine because a
democratic and successful Ukraine would be an example that Russians would want
to emulate.
The
whole situation eerily reminds me of the Sudetenland crisis in 1938, and the
reaction of the West has not been much better today than it was then.
MLADEN ANDRIJASEVIC
Beersheba
