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Retreat and Reboot
I was thrilled to see a front cover of TIME that offered some answers on getting us out of the world’s financial mess [Feb. 16]. I believe the first responsibility of every nation is to protect its citizens against long-term unemployment and the resultant poverty. I am not advocating tariffs or large-scale protection from imports but it is important that we maintain employment through restoring our essential manufacturing base, which has been considerably eroded through manufacturers going offshore. Add to this the encouragement of consumers to buy homemade goods and products and if this is achieved, along with maintaining employment, then the impact of the economic crisis will certainly be reduced. This is basic first aid while the brains of the financial world determine just how to organize the international economy for the benefit for everyone and not just the greedy.
Bob McCullough,
Karana Downs, Australia

Walls Will Tear Us Apart
It is sad to know that India’s building of a fence along its many miles of border with Bangladesh is the only solution to prevent migrants and terrorists from Bangladesh infiltrating India [Feb. 16]. I can understand that there may be economic disparities and security threats. However, before enclosing Bangladesh with a fence, India’s government should place the top priority on helping its neighbor stand on its own feet by boosting Dhaka’s economy and shining the way for its poorer, smaller neighbor. After all, India is one of the new superpowers of Asia. It should start acting the part.
Tadashi Kawabe,
Fukuoka, Japan

Congratulations to Jyoti Thottam for a very interesting piece on India’s fencing of its border with Bangladesh. Indeed, India assisted Bangladesh in its 1971 war of independence with Pakistan, partly out of strategic and historic needs, and has generously accommodated several million economic refugees and migrants from Bangladesh. I would now request the author to also research the economic hardships being caused among Bangladeshi farmers by dams being built in India on rivers flowing into Bangladesh, and see whether this is forcing poorer segments of Bangladesh’s rural society to look across the border to India for a living.
Nadeem Khan,
London

Help Pakistan Help You
The turbulent situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s key role cannot be solved by an equation of needs and wants, as spelled out in the chart accompanying Bobby Ghosh’s article [Feb. 16]. Pakistan’s main concern is oblivion. The incursions and drone attacks in the country’s tribal belt fuel antagonism and hatred toward the U.S. Richard Holbrooke needs to evolve a strategy that leads to a stabilization of the region. Indian intransigence toward a resolution of the Kashmir conflict needs to be redressed. Indeed, that is the tougher challenge that Holbrooke will confront: persuading New Delhi to shelve its chauvinism and its knee-jerk finger-pointing at Pakistan. This weakens both civilian democracy here and the will of the soldiers engaged in the fight against al-Qaeda and the terrorist outfits backed by it.
Fazal Karim Malik,
Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Truth and Consequences
Re “What Would Lincoln Do?”: Lincoln dedicated his life to the pursuit of economic freedom for all [Feb. 16]. But lost in the debate on the current stimulus plan is any mention of personal responsibility. That lack of responsibility on Main Street, Wall Street and Capitol Hill is what got us into this mess to begin with. Sure, we all have the right to rise, but we have forgotten that with rights come responsibilities.
Jason Peirce,
Calabasas, Calif., U.S.

There’s Truth in Simulation
Much praise is given to our documentary Burma VJ by your correspondent Andrew Marshall [Feb. 9]. However, Marshall also has strong reservations about the use of re-enactment as a narrative tool. Aesthetically, such methods can always be debated, but I cannot follow the article’s suggestion that the film seeks to manipulate its audience by pretending to be a montage of purely authentic material while, according to Marshall, it is in fact a “docudrama.” It is correct that there are reconstructions in the film. But we certainly have made no secret about it. All thinkable efforts have been made to make sure these representations of reality are as truthful and precise as possible. Indeed, they have been created under direct guidance from the Burmese video journalists who were there as eyewitnesses. We will shortly upload a version of the film on our website burmavj.com, where all reconstructions are clearly marked for the benefit of anyone who might take an interest in the matter.
Lise Lense-Mller,
Executive Producer, Magic Hour Films,
Copenhagen

The Self-Purifying Trend
Wanna detoxify [feb. 16]? Run five miles a day. Cheap, clean, effective. And all natural too.
David Hirsch,
Dallas