World Economy

I like Walter Russell Mead’s articles. The one about global economic meltdown as a threat to peace was particularly hard-hitting and scary (Opinion, Aug. 23). But give me a break! Is he serious when he says all these world leaders and hot-shot economists who are the architects of the current mess can’t come up with a single idea how to get us out of it? Sounds like Humpty Dumpty.

Permit a concerned amateur to offer a few ideas. First, just cancel all of the Third World’s debt. These desperate impoverished countries will never pay it off anyway and it’s a serious drag on their ability to improve their citizens’ standard of living.

Second, convene a global conference of all governments, labor and environmental organizations and transnational businesses that will formulate a plan to improve working conditions and purchasing power so the world’s people will actually be able to afford buying the products that they produce. Third, the U.S. and other Western governments should help all democratic forces (left, center and right) replace Boris Yeltsin since he’s turned a nuclear-armed Russia over to the Mafia. That should be good for starters.

STEVE TARZYNSKI

Santa Monica

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Re your Aug. 19 editorial, “Breathing Room for Russia”: Russia’s problems are indeed serious. We must remember that Russia still has several thousand nuclear warheads. Monetary aid via the IMF or other vehicles is of dubious value with the current unstable conditions. The food supply is in peril, as you point out, and nothing is more vital in any society.

A meaningful assistance in the short term would be to extend credit for U.S. foodstuffs to be shipped to Russia. This would not only reduce the peril of continued disintegration of Russia but would aid American farmers who are facing low worldwide prices for products.

LOU SCHMID

Laguna Niguel