Economic Pressure Might Be a Step to Ending Acts of Terror

James Flanigan’s “New U.S. Aid for Central Asia, Russia” [Oct. 7] is right on the money. There should be a national debate on why we have continued to do business with countries ruled by strongmen (kings, generals, potentates of any form) who allow their public to hold America up as the devil.

If we applied the same human rights and governmental cooperation requirements to the Middle East OPEC countries that we applied to the former Soviet Union and China, would we be doing business there? Economics defeated the Soviet Union.

Easy money to the Mideast OPEC countries has created this terrorist problem. Prior to 1980, we imported far less than 50% of our oil from these countries. Currently we import far more. It is since 1980 and the influx of petro dollars that Middle East-sponsored terrorism has grown.

Russia has petroleum reserves exceeding those of the Middle East. We have the opportunity to use economic pressure on these errant Mideast countries by working with Russia to meet our need for cheap gasoline.

But as we develop a new partner, will we continue the same mistakes by neglecting the need for bringing the public of that country into the 21st century?

Geoff Lerner

Yorba Linda