Readers comment on events in Greenland and Venezuela, discuss the significance of 24 Sussex, slam a school library book purge, and more

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Re: Trump says U.S. ‘needs’ Greenland for security — Jan. 6; and Trump dismisses NATO’s value as his desire for Greenland shakes alliance — Courtney Subramanian, Jan. 7

The White House said this week that President Donald Trump is “discussing a range of options” to take control of Greenland, making clear that using the U.S. military is not off the table.

Should that happen, Canada will be surrounded — Russia to the north, Alaska to the west, mainland U.S. to the south, and a U.S. Greenland to the east.

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What do you think happens next?

Mike Priaro, Calgary

Surely Russian President Vladimir Putin can’t believe his luck. An entire lifetime spent in a cold war with NATO and then a U.S. president arrives who is so vain he can be seduced with visions of glory, in this case dominion over tiny Greenland, a takeover that could well finish off NATO entirely.

Putin has been wasting untold treasure in the Ukraine in an attempt to achieve the same end, while all it took was a series of flattering phone calls of encouragement to the White House. Who would believe it?

John L. Riley, Mono, Ont.

Re: Starkly different reactions by Carney and Poilievre to Venezuela are revealing — John Ivison, Jan. 5

John Ivison’s analysis of future Venezuelan governance is a little lacking. Of course, and most importantly, it is a given that the country must hold clean elections as soon as possible. But in the interim, a government headed by Delcy Rodriguez is a reasonable call given the circumstances.

Maria Corina Machado may have won a Nobel Peace Prize, and may be adored by the West, but she has no elected authority in Venezuela. Similarly, Edmundo González may have won the past election — as international opinion likes to believe and it is probably correct — but he does not have official elected authority in Venezuela either, and all records confirming his election win have likely been destroyed.

If the international community actually wants to support the will of the Venezuelan people, all it can do is recognize an imperfect interim government and watch the subsequent election intensely for any suggestion of interference or malfeasance. Anything else should be named adventurism and a deliberate undermining of Venezuelan institutions.

Erin Thiessen, Kanata, Ont.

Kudos to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre for his response to the ousting of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela: “The legitimate winner of the most recent Venezuelan elections, Edmundo González, should take office along with the courageous hero and voice of the Venezuelan........

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