LETTERS

In 1989, John McPhee published The Control of Nature. Akin to your description of Over the Seawall by Stephen Robert Miller (“Sea Change,” Nov. 16, 2023), though without the urgent backdrop of carbon-fueled climate change, it documented three challenges to human infrastructure — the course of the Mississippi River, lava flows in Iceland and debris flows from the San Gabriel Mountains above Los Angeles — and the massive engineering projects undertaken to mitigate them.

Readers curious about Miller’s book may be interested in McPhee’s as well. The latter is available at the Boulder Public Library, and the former is on order.

— Matthew Messner, Boulder torians challenging excessive national security secrecy, it is the leading nonprofit user of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Let’s just focus on Kissinger’s role in the overthrow of Chile’s democratically elected president Salvador Allende. Just days after Allende was elected in 1970, Kissinger called the CIA director to discuss how to undermine the new government. Kissinger would become the chief architect of the policy to destabilize it.

Kissinger told Nixon that they couldn’t deny that Allende was legitimately elected. This was unlike Fidel Castro in Cuba who came to power via a violent insurrection. The election had “an insidious model effect” that could inspire people around the globe.

Department aides who were concerned about hundreds of Chileans being killed and sent a warm secret message of support to Pinochet. The U.S. helped Pinochet with economic and military aid and diplomatic support; the CIA created a secret police agency.

When Nixon bitched about the “liberal crap” in the media surrounding Allende’s overthrow, Kissinger said, “In the Eisenhower period, we would be heroes.” Yes, the CIA overthrew democratically elected governments in Iran and Guatemala in the 1950s.

The documents deal with Kissinger’s involvement in illegal bombing in Laos and Cambodia and complicity in genocide in East Timor and Bangladesh. Hundreds of thousands killed.

Kissinger said, “The example of a successful elected Marxist government in Chile would surely have an impact on — and even precedent value for — other parts of the world, especially in Italy; the imitative spread of similar phenomena elsewhere would in turn significantly affect the world balance and our own position in it.”

When Allende was overthrown by a military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet, Kissinger ignored State

“We don’t need no stinking public amenities,” is how Longmont Council woman Marcia Martin characterized her constituents’ rejection of three local ballot initiatives as quoted in Boulder Weekly (“Ballot Breakdown,” Nov. 16, 2023). In the section entitled “Longmont Hates Taxes,” Martin was quoted as saying, “… everybody’s mad, everybody’s nostalgic for the Longmont of 1980.”

There could be several reasons for Longmont voters — even those who support the arts, libraries, recreation and lower-cost housing — to not support the measures. The proposed arts center, at an undetermined location, seemed to get a lot of press from realtors; Martin and other supporters who promoted the Sugar Beet site, which could open a can of worms as the site and adjacent buildings could require demolition, remediation and, perhaps, even some toxic waste mitigation. The Y/Centennial Pool land swap to accommodate low-cost housing was never sufficiently explained to voters. A new rec center, pool, ice rink and library on the west end of town could each appeal to a segment of voters, but a plurality is required for any ballot approval.

Voters generally seemed to express that the three measures would increase taxes at a time when those same voters will be facing record tax increases due to rising home valuations. Those anxious homeowners are still awaiting the cost on their coming real estate tax bills.

These days, the Trumpist foot soldiers of the Jan. 6 insurrection like the Proud Boys wear T-shirts saying “Pinochet Did Nothing Wrong.” They are MAGA’s persecuted heroes.

Pinochet and his crimes are celebrated by the far right. This is domestic blowback, an unintended consequence of America’s foreign dirty deeds — and part of Kissinger’s legacy.

This opinion does not necessarily reflect the views of Boulder Weekly.

Have a different view of things?

Whether the individual measures could pass if spread over several election cycles or if presented during a general presidential election remains to be seen. The only certainty is Martin’s condescension of her own constituents.

— John Loughran, Longmont

It is not anti-Jew to criticize Israel for human rights violations. It is not antiBuddhist to criticize Myanmar for human rights violations. It is not antiMuslim to criticize Saudi Arabia for human rights violations. It is not antiHindu to criticize India for human rights violations. It is not anti-American to criticize the United States for human rights violations.

— Seemanta, Boulder