Death Flight

To the Editors:

In an era of sophisticated electronic-surveillance capabilities, it is ridiculous for the Soviet Union to accuse the U.S. of using a commercial airliner [Sept. 12] as a spy plane.

Leo V. Ring

Beverly, Mass.

Horror, yes! Surprise, no!

Howard W. Klippert

East Aurora, N. Y.

We can continue to debate whether it was Soviet bumbling or brutality that ultimately caused the Korean air massacre, but we cannot argue with or hide from its meaning: the Soviet Union is armed, dangerous and trigger-happy. It is time the civilized world recognized this fact and acted accordingly.

Ojars Kalnins

Chicago

The poor American citizen. Embarrassed by the gutless bravado of President Reagan and the wistful whimsy of nuclear freezers, he stands helpless before the latest lunge by the rabid misanthropes in the Kremlin.

John P. Taylor

Mission Viejo, Calif.

Even bearing in mind the extenuating factors that directed the judgment of the Soviet pilot to down the Korean passenger plane, one must still be appalled by the conscienceless response and by the inhuman and dehumanizing brutality of the system that conditioned him.

Violet S. Tartell

Durham, N.C.

The Soviet Union has firmly stated that in a war it would not be the first side to resort to nuclear weapons, but who believes the word of a nation that shoots down passenger airliners?

Tony Powell

Long Island City, N. Y.

We who live outside the direct Soviet sphere of influence profess to live in a civilized world. But the incident involves a cover-up on the part of the Korean and the U.S governments. Do not tell me pilot error caused the Korean airliner to enter Soviet airspace.

Jinsuk Tommy Oh

Cambridge, Mass.

Any Soviet fighter pilot who cannot accurately discriminate between a lumbering 747 passenger airliner and an enemy plane bent on harm should be ordered back to basic training for a refresher course in plane identification.

Don Kees

Moscow, Idaho

What killed 269 innocent people was hatred. Hatred between two political superpowers that, I fear, will never understand each other.

David Francis

Greenbrae, Calif.

Will the slaughter of Flight 007 deter any corporation or any nation from doing business as usual with the Soviet swine? I doubt it.

Thomas Berthold

Hollywood, Fla.

Rhubarbing over Ruburbia

Your Essay "Welcome to Ruburbia" [Sept. 12] has added a great new word to our language. In Washington County, Texas, an area about 80 miles from Houston, ruburbians have long been known as the "mink and manure set."

Stanley Shipnes

Northport, Mich.

Please not ruburbia! It suggests a place where the rubes rub against the urbs, and where rhubarb is grown and sold at roadside stands. A perfectly good term to describe that transitional, temporary zone of land-use clash between the rural and the suburban is exurban. This was coined by A.C. Spectorsky in his 1955 book The Exurbanites to describe such areas from New Canaan to Hopewell to New Hope. Exurbia, yes! Ruburbia, no way!

Ray O'Brien

Professor of Geography

Bucks County Community College

Newtown, Pa.

The Essay on ruburbia is insulting to Americans who live on farms and in small towns. If we moved to the cities and attempted to pass laws regulating the ways in which you earned your living, you might be antagonistic toward us.

We who live in the country sometimes own Cusinarts; we take our children to orthodontists and seek cardiac specialists when needed.

Helen L. Williams

Fond du Lac, Wis.

Dog of War

It is outrageous that you could title an article on Syria and its President "The Proud Lion and His Den" [Sept. 5] when describing this barbaric police state and its ruthless dictator. Syria is the Soviet surrogate in the Middle East. Its goals include annexation of Lebanon, destruction of Israel and the toppling of pro-Western governments in the area.

The U.S. and the Western alliance are being tested severely in the Middle East by the Soviet Union and its mad dog without a leash, Syria. If it is successful in gobbling up Lebanon, Syria will beat America into a shameful retreat.

Douglas Miller

Miami Beach

With the exception of the Soviet Union, Syrian President Assad is the world's greatest deterrent to peace in the Middle East. His refusal to withdraw Syrian troops from Lebanon and his treatment of U.S. envoys put him in the same fanatical category as other dictators like Adolf Hitler.

Irvin Gassenheimer Jr.

Montgomery, Ala.

Combat Debate

Our military forces engaged in a so-called peace-keeping mission in Lebanon [Sept. 12] are sustaining direct attack and deaths. It is ironic that our political machine will go out of its way to stress that these are not combat deaths. Our Commander in Chief calls the families of these dead servicemen to offer condolences and stress how "proud" the nation is of them. Frankly, the nation is not proud.

The death of any American service person is a direct attack on our nation, our freedom and our way of life. Phone calls, rhetoric and fancy funerals cover up the fact that we are not being a force to reckon with.

Robert F. Savio

Sun Prairie, Wis.

Why is the big question should our Marines in Beirut shoot back to defend themselves? I ask: Why do we have our Marines over there? It seems we are going to have another Viet Nam. This is the way we started over there.

Ronald J. Soukiassian

Hollywood, Fla.

Cuisine Chewout

What is all the fuss about la nuova cucina italiana [Sept. 12] actually being French? Those of us who know about food are aware that French cooking is no more than Italian cooking improvised upon. Had it not been for Catherine de Medici, there would not be a French cuisine as we know it, haute or nouvelle.

Frank Caliendo

Melrose Park, Ill.

Thank you for your tasty article "In Search of La Nuova Cucina. "I would like to offer the subtitle "La Monda Cucina a la Franc,aise." I have often heard that some of the best restaurants in France are Italian. Perhaps this explains the superb and innovative marriage of these cuisines. If the critics who oppose this culinary evolution were more concerned with changes in their waistlines than in their palates, they might more readily accept this new cuisine.

Dale Pratt

Redondo Beach, Calif.

German Viewpoint

Your article "Making Hostility a Media Event" [Aug. 29] insinuates that Der Spiegel has depicted the U.S. "as a nation of knee-jerk militarists and simultaneously has managed to find the Soviets flexible and reasonable." To support this vague assertion, you quote Der Spiegel on Yuri Andropov: "He has clearly engaged himself for peace." This quote, which is taken from Der Spiegel's published, abridged version of Andropov, a book by Russian Author and Dissident Zhores Medvedev, who lives in London, presupposes an editorial opinion of our magazine. The complete quote reads: "Signals that he [Andropov] has given at the beginning of his tenure are contradictory, yet in foreign affairs he has already engaged himself quite clearly for world peace."

We found Medvedev's observations on Andropov's political career quite interesting. But he is not and never has been a member of our editorial staff.

Rudolf Augstein

Editor, Der Spiegel

Hamburg, West Germany

Electronic Watchdog

I question the intelligence of people who subscribe to a cable security service [Sept. 12] that has electronic access to their homes. I would rather do without my stereo, TV and camera gear than have Big Brother watching me watch him.

Susan P. Kincaid

Charlotte, N.C.

While billions are spent on defense overkill--more weapons than could ever be needed--we seem to have completely lost control of crime and the conditions that breed it. When Americans see fit to wall in their residential areas and pay to transform their loving pets into vicious guard dogs, our plight is tragic indeed.

Helen Tierney

Carmel, N. Y.

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