Don’t be surprised that Russians do not know
Re: “Two wrongs do not make a right,” letter, May 31.
In an ideal world dealing with logical, sane and reasonable people, I would fully agree with the writer’s views on diplomacy and compromise.
However, I think she falls into the catagory of the likes of Neville Chamberlain at the onslaught of the Second World War when he was trying diplomacy and compromise with Adolf Hitler. It’s virtually impossible to negotiate with madmen.
Had the powers that were finally in charge dealing with the Hitler threat instead turned their priorities to serious social and economic issues of the day and decided against military conflict, then possibly to this day letters to the editor would not be a freedom we all enjoy.
On another note concerning Russia and its citizens (and the German people of the Second World War for that matter), freedom of the press was, and is, pretty well non-existent.
So to sit in disbelief or amazement of the ignorance of the Russian people and their support of Putin and his lies, you only have to turn to our neighbours to the south who have complete access to all news from all sides and many who still seem to believe “the big lie” perpetrated by Trump and his allies.
As the song The Boxer by Paul Simon says: “Still a man sees [hears] want he wants to see and disregards the rest.”
Evan Begbie
Cowichan Bay
Let’s help Ukraine as much as we can
Re: “Two wrongs do not make a right,” letter, May 31.
I take great exception to what the letter-writer suggests regarding western nations supplying military weapons to Ukraine.
The innocent people of Ukraine did nothing to deserve being slaughtered and their homes and cities blown to nothing. They have remained steadfast in defending their country, despite shortages of food and water.
They need and deserve any help they can get. Should all our efforts be on climate change, while children are being killed in this war? The writer states “we need to abandon our pro-war policies and advocate for diplomacy and mediation.”
Tell that to Putin! This evil dictator and murderer has repeatedly been asked to negotiate and refuses to do so. Let’s help Ukraine all we can.
Wilma Sayer
Courtenay
World must respond to Russian inhumanity
Re: “Two wrongs do not make a right,” letter, May 31.
The letter-writer pleads earnestly for an immediate end to the conflict in the Ukraine, followed by negotiations. Some questions:
Should Russia have committed to negotiations without military invasion? When the first to strike has decided that invasion is the appropriate course, does an invaded country have the right to defend itself?
As long as might makes right, the stronger party has no reason or need to negotiate.
Does the rest of the world have a responsibility to protect (a doctrine developed with considerable Canadian contribution)? Or, does the victim and the rest of the world merely wait until the invader says: “I will negotiate about the aftermath after I have achieved all my territorial and geopolitical objectives.”
What if the invader is following the old adage that the best way to eat an elephant is “one bite at a time”? The abandonment of Czechoslovakia in 1938 did not pre-empt the outbreak of war in 1939.
Agreeing that negotiations are preferable by far, no global and enforceable framework exists to make negotiations an even-handed and practical consideration at this stage.
No third party can force a cease-fire, or restore original boundaries, or undo the wrong that has been done. What, then, is to be done? We are unable to repeat the UN police action in South Korea in 1950.
Perhaps, after the Russian invasion comes to an end, the world will invent a workable framework for negotiations. In the meantime, inhumanity holds sway and the rest of the world responds as best it can.
David King
Victoria
Try a green solution to keep the heat out
Many skylights and southwest-facing windows can turn your home into a “greenhouse” in the hot sunny weather. On a typical day, a skylight angled to the southwest or a standard-sized window with ordinary glass acts like a heat lamp, allowing huge amounts of infrared heat rays to enter your house.
Unfortunately, double glazing that insulates your home just makes the radiated heat through the window remain in your house, making it even hotter. Installing air conditioning without drastically reducing this radiated heat is analogous to leaving your front door open in the winter and then trying to heat your house.
It is fundamentally failing to address the source of the heat while spending energy removing it after it is already in the house. You must “close” the front door, i.e. change the window glass. It is vital to prevent as much energy from entering through the glass into your house as possible.
Before contacting commercial air-conditioning companies, consider the science.
There are special types of glass that can reduce about 85 to 90 per cent of the offending infrared light heat rays that can enter your house when they are facing into direct sunlight.
Several years ago I was going to install air conditioning, but decided to first change all my southwest facing glass windows for “reflective bronze” glass leaving the frames intact. The reduction in the heat entering our house was remarkable.
Prior to changing the glass in one of the skylights, chocolate would melt if left on the counter. Now the counter remains cool even in the hottest heatwave. It has also made our bedroom more tolerable.
The most sensible aspect is that it is a passive, relatively low-cost solution that should always precede considering high running maintenance costs of air-conditioning units.
Tackling the physics part of climate change will save us all in the long run as green solutions, rather than commercial ones, are often conveniently forgotten.
Graeme McCreath
Victoria
New federal gun laws go too far
I am a local law-abiding gun owner who, along with about 5,000 members of the local gun range on the Malahat, enjoy the various competitive shooting disciplines. We are just a small slice of firearms licence holders across sa国际传媒, which has more than 1.1 million legally owned handguns.
The federal government’s latest announcement had some great ideas, like the increased ability of police to quickly take guns from domestic abusers.
But chief among the plans announced was the “freeze” on handgun sales. It seems legal gun owners can be trusted to safely keep what they already own, but not trade within themselves or buy new equipment from stores.
Elite Olympic shooters are one of the groups exempted from the new freeze. This makes as much sense as banning soccer balls from all but sa国际传媒’s national teams. In a few short seasons there would be no new players.
How would one get an interest in soccer if there are no balls?
The freeze on legal handgun sales does nothing to increase the safety of the Canadian public and is clearly aimed at “grandfathering” the competitors, clubs and ranges into extinction over time.
The very ranges police and other professionals rent to train at, I might add.
Marc Leduc
Saanich
Let’s pick a name to honour the Queen
In recognition of the unmatched loyalty and public service of our current monarch, I propose that we change the name of the Municipality of Esquimalt to the Municipality of Elizabeth Bay, British Columbia.
Dick Rennie
Elizabeth Bay
Well, maybe the legs are not what matters
Re: “If in doubt, count the legs,” letter, June 1.
The writer may be surprised to learn that both ticks and insects are arthropods (members of Phylum Arthropoda, meaning animals with jointed legs), but they are members of different groups within that phylum.
Ticks are in the Class Arachnida (along with mites, spiders and scorpions, all of which have eight legs), while insects comprise the Class Insecta (which have six legs, are the most numerous of the arthropods, and are currently divided up into 27 orders — too many to list here).
Bryce Kendrick
Sidney
About that one-time ICBC rebate
Are you one of the thousands of drivers waiting for the government’s one-time $110 rebates to help with sky-high gas prices?
Don’t hold your breath. A call to ICBC revealed that cheques will be processed and mailed between June 1 and the end of July. The end of July?
Yes. How far will $110 go then?
Michael Dupuis
Esquimalt
Alberta health care might have answers
We should definitely be looking at Alberta to see what they are doing differently.
Every clinic advertises for new patients, and I don’t know anyone who couldn’t find a family doctor.
What are they doing right — and why isn’t sa国际传媒 doing the same?
Lynn MacDonald
French Creek
Affordability is another crisis, thanks to low wages
The climate emergency and the health-care emergency are in the news every week. A third emergency is also in the spotlight: affordability.
Statistics sa国际传媒 reported that the median hourly wage in sa国际传媒 in 2021 was $26.92. Put another way, half of workers in the province make less than that. With our cost of living, more and more of these workers are living paycheque to paycheque.
Is it simply a shortage of workers in various sectors? Or is it that there is a shortage of employers paying a living wage?
Kip Wood
Nanaimo
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• Mail: Letters to the editor, sa国际传媒, 201-655 Tyee Rd., Victoria, sa国际传媒 V9A 6X5
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