Ah yes, the Great Game is up and running again.

Recall than the Brits and Russians fought over resources for many years. The Brits dropped out, and now we have the US ogling Russia over oil and gas in the Caucasus. Hence the big dust-up over the Russian invasion to get the invading Georgians out of a majority-Russian autonomous region in Georgia.

We already have wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, not to mention CIA insurgencies in Iran, Muslim China, the Philippines--and now it's back to the good ol' USSR-- er, I mean Russia.

We also know that two out of three corporations don't pay income taxes, and the rest of the rich refuse to serve in the military and hardly pay their share of taxes... In other words, we are stretched beyond our means but our incorrigible leaders, Pentagon people and future leaders want us to soldier on.

What's on our horizon? Decline, of course. It's happened to the best of empires, even many of the worst. Read the tea leaves, fans--we're heading for a fall, er, decline.

Howard Kaplan

Belmont, MA

What steps could the United States take to put its relations with Russia on an even keel and boost its credibility as an engine for global freedom?

I believe it ought to abandon the "gangland loyalty" paradigm and stand up for the principles it so selectively advocates. In terms of low-hanging fruit, the US could steal Russia's thunder by championing the rights of Russian-speaking minorities in the Ukraine and Baltic nations. Ukraine may be encouraged to give up its relentless drive against the Russian language spoken, according to some estimates, by most Ukrainian citizens, and adopt it as one of its official languages. The Baltic nations may be encouraged to offer full citizenship rights to disenfranchised Russian-speaking "aliens" and refrain from annual Waffen SS parades. Such a beginning would in no way jeopardize US interests, while largely defusing Russia's resentment about the treatment of its "compatriots" and finally getting America some moral points.

Anatoly Panov

Moscow, Russia