Readers write
Let freedom and democracy be memorial to veterans
Many rejoice in the Cobb County Board of Commissioners approving $2 million in funding for a Cobb Veterans Memorial Park.
Some may disagree with me, but I believe this country, our freedom, and our democracy are reward enough for veterans as a memorial to our service.
Recently, I drove on Marietta’s Roswell Street and saw the beautiful wreaths on many of the headstones at the Marietta National Cemetery. What is that if not a veterans’ memorial?
I received a letter from the Veterans Administration saying that when I die, unless I commit a felony, I have a place to be buried in a National Cemetery. That high honor, my Marine Corps license plate from the State of Georgia, and my present enrollment in the Veterans Administration health system because of my exposure to the toxic water at Camp LeJeune are enough for me.
Each of us did something. The rest is up to our fellow Americans to keep our Republic, as Ben Franklin said, “If you can keep it.”
DANIEL F. KIRK, KENNESAW
Responsible leadership requires diplomacy
Global conflicts rarely begin with a single dramatic decision. They begin with a series of escalations — alliances strained, norms broken, threats normalized and conflicts widened until no one can step back. That is why the direction of the Trump administration’s foreign policy should alarm all Americans.
This feckless administration has repeatedly weakened alliances that have kept global peace for decades, treating NATO partners as adversaries while showing open admiration for authoritarian leaders. It has undermined international institutions designed to manage conflict, dismissed diplomacy as weakness, and embraced unilateral military and economic actions with little regard for international law or long-term consequences.
At the same time, this administration has escalated tensions on multiple fronts — Eastern Europe, the Middle East, East Asia and Latin America — often simultaneously. History teaches that great-power wars are most likely when regional conflicts overlap and alliances are triggered unintentionally. Reckless rhetoric, public threats and impulsive actions increase the risk of miscalculation, a particularly alarming prospect in a nuclear-armed world. Once the machinery of confrontation is set in motion, it is next to impossible to stop.
Responsible leadership requires restraint, diplomacy and respect for the rules that prevent chaos not a policy that is designed to invoke chaos. By eroding those safeguards and normalizing provocation and escalation, the Trump administration is steering the country — and the world — down a dangerous path where a global conflict — a world war — becomes not unthinkable, but frighteningly possible.
That is a risk no nation should take.
JAMES KANN, ROSWELL
