LETTERS: Port development; PETA
To the editor: In regards to last week’s Op-Ed penned by Sen. Sullivan
Senator Sullivan gave Nome residents some more of his dumb. Sullivan is clearly not sensitive to the tremendous problems that alcohol brings to western Alaska but attempts to recruit the public to his side by saying he had a beer at the BOT with the Secretary of the Navy.
His Op-Ed was a disgusting way to open the dialogue on Arctic change and international geo-politics. We have all seen this for well over 100 years from our ill-informed politicians i.e. a yearning to show our military strength whatever that may be on the international stage to sensationalize the military complex.
Why must people like him consider diplomacy from the standpoint of military might? There are some concrete facts we must not ignore: in November 2018 the Government Accounting Office reported that the Arctic is at “low risk for conflict”. Sullivan has again failed, well more accurately, issued another logical fallacy that because China is sometimes in the Arctic it means the U.S. has to arm itself against imagined threats with no evidence.
If he were to use his military experience he might ask about capabilities and intentions but he isn’t. He is clearly bolstering the military industrial complex and has forgotten his duty to local people. It is abundantly clear Sullivan is not using tests of his intuitions and principles of national security to address international Arctic affairs, but rather escalating international confusion. When the U.S. ramps up its weaponry of course other countries will respond by also arming themselves.
Please use some intelligent thought about what we ought to do and what we ought not to do because we should ensure that whatever the U.S. is doing that it is 1. just, 2. with the right intentions, 3. is proportional to any threats, and lastly, 4. is necessary. Lest we forget or don’t know there is no Chinese military base in the Arctic and so it seems like a nothing sandwich.
On October 30, 2019 the House Committee on Homeland Security and separately the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations met for a combined six hours and collected high level briefs from the highest levels of intelligence and Russian international diplomacy. The Arctic theatre was never mentioned as an area of security threat to the nation.
We in the Arctic want peace and it should be most objectionable to our liberties that Sullivan is willing to forego our desire for peace to put more military muscle in the Arctic as opposed to better diplomacy.
Austin Ahmasuk
PO Box 693
Nome, AK 99762
RE: Iditarod CEO meets with PeTA
I can’t believe the CEO of the Iditarod would be so naive as to even suggest that PETA is a legitimate entity worth talking to. They’re a bunch of haters— haters of dogs, animals, people, and children!!! They HATE fun!!!! They are NOT your friend - nor are they mine.
What you don’t understand is two-fold:
1. They are terrorists. They do NOT negotiate - as the definition for negotiation is that both sides give a little. Well - guess what - there IS nothing they can give!!! Your rights are being impinged by these freaks who hate you.
2. Your actions will have wide repercussions all the way done into the lower 48 states. They are attacking all dog owners!! They are attacking all animal owners!! They are attacking anyone who doesn’t prescribe to their way of life - no animals and NO FUN!!
My father used to run his Siberians in sled races on the East Coast. He soooo enjoyed the time with his dogs and other people with the same love of their sled dogs. Your misguided actions will have an impact on all of us.
Please, think twice about your actions and stop aiding and abetting criminals and terrorists!!! They are NOT our friends, they do not want to BE our friends, and their agenda is to eradicate the loving link between humans and their animals. Would you negotiate with ISIS??? They really share the same hatred for humans and animals and that bond!
I am constantly educating people about these actions. Don’t leave me standing alone. Take a stand - for your dogs - AND MINE!!!!
Carol R. Hamilton,
Los Angeles, CA
Via email