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The soviet era
"20 years of the last century's greatest tragedy!" by Arindam Chaudhuri (TSI, December 4) was moving.  Indeed there are several positive aspects in Communist ideals which still have many takers around the world. The article brought back thoughts of the times when the balance of world power was not concentrated on a particular power block. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, world is witnessing upsurge of military offensives.  For Indians till the late 80s, Soviet Union spelled assurance, that there was someone to fall back on in the eventuality of any military aggression by adversaries. It is true that most Soviet citizens did not enjoy the latest consumerist luxuries like the Western world, but had full access to education and healthcare. And today, 20 years after the collapse, the high standard of living and a vibrant democracy, they aspired for still eludes Russia and almost all the countries of the Soviet block.  No wonder there is growing support among people for the concept of Soviet Union.
Avijit Ghosh
24 Parganas North

The Korean way
The editorial “Go the Korean way...” (TSI, Dec 11) makes an indelible mark on the reader’s mind invoking in him a sense of belonging with pride that it is never too late to show one collar up in the quality and packaging technology over other ‘videshi’ goods. One good valid reason for allowing FDI is that it will enable our entrepreneurs to strive hard when it comes to fierce competition with foreign players. Emulating the classic example of South Korea proves a point that going back to our national patriotic slogan of ‘Be Indian and buy Indian’ may turn out to be a reality. Today, we are complacent with our quality and very little is known about the number of reported cases of export rejections of our goods, let alone non-reported cases. Let us permit FDI and welcome this move as a gesture to tell the outside world that ‘we are not scared’ to start with and then do our home work.  
Ashok Jayaram
Bangalore

An insightful piece
Arindam Chaudhuri's edit “20 years of the last century's greatest tragedy” (TSI, Dec 4) was insightful and thought provoking. He is true in pointing out that the disintegration of former USSR in 1991 left a big void. A void of that of a strong nation that could stand up against the self-proclaimed guardian of humanity, war monger, and one-upmanship of America. Had the USSR been around, the course of recent world history would have been very different and more just, as it could have maintained the balance of power. Unfortu-nately, that’s not to be, and being the sole superpower, the greedy profit motivated American has been dictating its terms to everyone. No doubt, Osama Bin Laden and the likes of him needed to be punished for their wrong doings but certainly not at the cost of a whole nation being thrown into war and thousands of innocen lives.
Jambay
Arunachal Pradesh