Goodies and Baddies

### Reader’s Letter to The Guardian, 16th November 2024 ###

Dear Editor,

So Trump is on his way to the Whitehouse and I too view this with some trepidation. But if we have divided the world into “Baddies” (Trump & Co.) and “Goodies” (the rest), the “Goodies” need to show that they really are living up to the reputation that they have given themselves.

For me, a couple of things have put this into serious doubt. For example …

Before the election Joe Biden stated that, if Israel did not reduce it’s aggression in Gaza within 30 days, the US would start to remove support. Conveniently the end of the deadline fell after the election. But that deadline has passed and the US has not changed its policy. So was the whole thing an election lie?

Chancellor Scholz has not spoken to Vladimir Putin for two years now but, interestingly, decided to phone him last week. This was after his coalition had fallen apart leaving him running a lame-duck government. No aspects of compromise were offered to Putin: He was simply told that he needed to withdraw his troops from Ukraine. This was so obviously a futile act of electioneering (with elections planned for February) that, in that moment, my sentiments towards the SPD and Chancellor Scholz hardened dramatically.

Next, President Selenskyj slammed Chancellor Scholz for speaking to President Putin with Selenskyj feeling that Scholz was “cosying up” to Putin and that the Russians should be systematically isolated. How can this be when our media are repeatedly telling us that the West is ready to negotiate and that it is the Russians who are refusing?

For me these are litmus tests which tell us that “The Goodies” are not all that they purport to be.

Yours,
Alan Mitcham