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I read Bill Habedank's July 11 rebuttal of Kathleen Collins' opinion piece ("The dangers of ceding territory for peace in Ukraine," Opinion Exchange, July 8) with growing disbelief. Has the he been ignoring the news from Ukraine? Even independent news sources have reported that Russia has deliberately and repeatedly attacked civilian targets. Russian airstrikes have deliberately attacked hospitals and air raid shelters. The complete disregard for civilian casualties — indeed, the deliberate infliction of civilian casualties — is easily on a par with Stalinist tactics.

Apart from the attacks on civilian targets, Ukrainian civilians have been forcibly relocated to the Russian interior, their property expropriated without compensation. Ukrainian children have been separated from their parents, and their locations are unknown. It is presumed that they have been given to Russian families.

Appeasement will not stop someone like Russian President Vladimir Putin from trying again. You can see this in Russia's treatment of Chechnya and Georgia. In both cases, peace "negotiations" were actually pauses in Russian attacks, time for Russian forces to regroup and refit. You can also see Russian doctrine in Syria, where refugee camps and rebel-held areas have been attacked with chemical weapons and are routinely shelled. Wagner mercenaries have conducted wholesale rape and murder in not only Ukraine but central Africa and Syria.

I can appreciate Habedank's desire for peace between Ukraine and Russia, but that can only work if both sides are honest, honorable partners. The Russian government under Putin will never be honest or honorable.

Daniel Beckfield, St. Paul

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I am in total agreement with veteran Bill Habedank's response to the recent commentary by Kathleen Collins. Collins wants to continue to sacrifice Ukrainians on the altar of our government's stated goal of "weakening Russia" even if escalation leads to a nuclear Armageddon. It is sad for me to see a fellow University of Minnesota political science scholar advocate for a new, prolonged Cold War instead of difficult but necessary negotiations to end the bloodshed. The timing of this piece, just when President Joe Biden decides to approve inhumane, widely banned cluster bombs to the region is obviously strategic by the editors and speaks to the enormous media campaign being waged on the American public to keep them in support of yet another endless war, as passive armchair observers, of course.

In the meantime, our own nation bursts at the seams with social problems of infrastructure collapse, homelessness, addiction, the uninsured and rampant gun violence. Thank you to Habedank for speaking out and enduring the predictable hyperbolic backlash of being dubbed "pro-Putin" for expressing an opposing opinion. Russia's invasion of Ukraine is to be strongly condemned, but people need to realize negotiations early on could have avoided thousands of deaths. These talks in the spring of 2022 failed when the West choose instead to push Ukraine to fight to the last man, a costly and deadly mistake.

One would never know it from reading the mainstream media or watching television news blips between 10-minute commercials for pharmaceuticals, but citizens of the Global South (world majority) want nothing to do with another NATO misadventure, having seen the failed states created in Iraq and Afghanistan. When Biden asked Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to send arms to Ukraine, he refused and answered, "I don't want to join the war, I want to end the war." That, Ms. Collins, is the right reaction.

Kristina Gronquist, Minneapolis

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Like a recent letter writer, I protested the use of cluster bombs in the 1980s. In fact I got myself arrested for doing so. But I support sending Ukraine cluster bombs.

The cluster bombs I protested back then were being used to terrorize civilian populations. I objected, like that letter writer, to how they continued to kill after the war was over. But today, they will be used to hold off an invader that is fighting a war of terror and attrition.

Ukraine is almost out of ammunition, and it is requesting the bombs to keep Russia from advancing until more traditional munitions can arrive. Ukraine will have to live with the aftereffects of the cluster bombs; it will be awful for Ukrainian people, and yet the country is asking for them. It seems this situation is extremely dire if it is asking for them.

Before World War II a group of Americans and others went to Spain to fight the fascists. They were known as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. They fought there because they believed that fascism had to be stopped or it would spread worldwide. They didn't succeed for lack of support from the United States and others. Shortly after, WWII broke out and the battle was on everywhere to defeat fascism, and millions died.

We are in a similar moment now. Not just Putin, but other ruthless authoritarians worldwide — with support from some influencers in the U.S. — are poised to expand and destroy democracy. This has to be stopped here or it will spread and spread.

As long as Ukraine is willing to fight, let it have the weapons it needs for survival. Authoritarianism and dictatorship must be stopped here or it and its methods of invasion, brutality, disinformation, anti-democracy and propaganda will spread worldwide. Thankfully Biden is old and wise enough to have learned the lesson of the failure to stop fascism in Spain.

Paul Rozycki, Minneapolis

That Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara didn't see the problem of an officer being terminated for excessive force until he saw the video seems more than a little suspect ("O'Hara: I could have been clearer," July 11). Having the incident spelled out in written form should have been sufficient. The significance of this incident has been lost on what O'Hara knew and when he knew it before signing off on the hiring of Tyler Timberlake. The real significance isn't whether O'Hara saw the video of Timberlake's transgressions but rather that he knew of it and signed off on it anyway. If the complaint hadn't surfaced, Timberlake would be cruising the streets of Minneapolis, sunglasses on, elbow extended out the window. Timberlake represented a warm air-breather who was willing to work as a Minneapolis cop. Of course O'Hara signed off on it! Acquitted, bingo! You're hired! Welcome to the MPD. You'll be starting with three other candidates whose criminal history has either been expunged or otherwise whitewashed. Your training has been fast-tracked. Hope you don't mind working a little overtime ...

Richard Greelis, Bloomington

The writer is a retired police officer.

The Twins cannot hit the baseball. If the team's brain trust gets owner Joe Pohlad's sense of urgency ("Joe Pohlad wants to see 'urgency' as Twins falter," July 10), the most urgent change they must make is a no-brainer: hitting coach David Popkins has to go. If he is still with the team after this week's All-Star break, the Twins might as well wave the white flag of surrender at Target Field.

David Aquilina, Richfield