Europe needs sober policy, not cheering from the sidelines

Europe needs a sober policy toward the war in Ukraine, not the kind of partisan cheering associated with a sporting contest, Mirko Vintar writes in a letter to the editor.

Vintar says he received dozens of responses to his earlier article, “Why is Europe rushing toward a major war with Russia?” Most were strongly positive, while some readers disagreed. He says he expected disagreement and had no intention of arguing with people who held different views.

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Mirko Vintar rejects Ukraine’s independence and cheers for the Russian side.

He decided to respond after Dimitrij Rupel accused him of several positions and forms of “cheering” for the Russian side. Rupel wrote that “Mirko Vintar rejects Ukraine’s independence and cheers for the Russian side,” a claim Vintar says was repeated later in the text.

Vintar rejects that characterization. He emphasizes that nowhere in the earlier article, or in any other piece, did he reject Ukraine’s independence. Instead, he presents his position as a call for a peace-oriented and more measured European policy toward the war.

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We are discussing topics that are far too serious for responsible people to descend to the level of cheering for one side like sports fans.