Letter: First the world, then Asheville?

Posted on by Letters
Graphic by Lori Deaton

Slap my forehead! Why didn’t I think of that?

According to Bill Branyon’s channeling of Lord Robert Cecil [“Dear John Francis Amherst Vanderbilt Cecil IV (Jack),” May 10, Xpress], if we would just lay down our arms, peace would break out all over the world. The cantankerous people of Ukraine could stop worrying about the continuing Russian invasion that began in 2014, since Vladimir Putin would no longer feel threatened by a peaceful democracy on Russia’s border. (Could it be Ukraine’s  freedoms of press and speech, both totally suppressed in Putin’s Russia?)

Why was Ukraine foolishly maintaining an army anyway? Russia had invaded twice before, but we know Putin was only kidding. If Ukraine would simply disarm, he could sleep more “peacefully,”  achieving his stated goal of obliterating Ukraine as a nation while realizing his dream of a reconstituted Russian empire with him as emperor.

Shame on those nasty Ukrainians for wanting modern American fighter jets to ward off Russian warplanes.

Next we could move on to defunding the police here at home. Downtown businesses in Asheville would surely climb on that bandwagon.

— John Sterling
Asheville

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5 thoughts on “Letter: First the world, then Asheville?”

  1. Mike Rains

    Sounds like the author needs to do a lot more homework on the Ukraine/Russia situation. It’s not near as black and white as he implies.

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  2. Bright

    “First self, then the world.” …philosophy never solved anything.

  3. indy499

    Bill Branyon and his tiny band of old fools write the same nonsense every week. Mr Sterling’s commentary captures it pretty well.

  4. Voirdire

    yes, thank you for this… much appreciated. Bill Branyon’s missive was as shallow as it was callow. Fortunately, few but the -already initiated/ completely lost to this world- would fall for it.

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