Profiting from belief
Re: "Fengshui master arrested in alleged B108m fraud", (BP, Nov 11).
The arrest of "a popular fengshui master" for fraud raises an obvious question. Are those getting rich by selling good luck, fortune telling, magical amulets, auspicious relics, or merit in some way not committing fraud?
Motives for war
Re: "Putin's playbook", (BP, Nov 9).
It seems good old Tarquin Chufflebottom has done some research. He says the reason Finland invaded Russia hand-in-hand with the Nazis was to reclaim the land the Soviets had seized in the Winter War of 1939. Correct.
But if he had dug a little deeper, he would have discovered that the Soviets had asked for a land swap.
Why?
Finland had only gained independence from Russia 20 years earlier in the chaos of the Bolshevik Revolution. Some adjustment of the border in Karelia to better defend Leningrad was, therefore, a reasonable request.
But no, the Nazis in Helsinki had every intention of destroying the Soviets in the titanic struggle to come.
Fortunately, the Soviets won the Winter War and annexed the land they needed.
Tarquin needs to read a history book.
Amid the heat crisis
Re: "COP29: Justice for Global South?", (Opinion, Nov 12).
Mukhtar Babayev, COP29 president-designate, spoke at the inauguration of this year's conference in Azerbaijan on Nov 11 and made a passionate plea to the world community to cooperate in mitigating the rising heat levels worldwide.
This year has recorded the highest heat levels, with September's heat record way over the 1.5C limit. This is deleterious to crop cultivation and global weather changes.
Donald Trump, the US president-elect, does not believe in climate change and is set to pull the US out of the Paris Accord.
Vladimir Putin played an influential role in bringing the COP meeting to Azerbaijan despite the small country being a major oil exporter and, performance-wise, can show no enviable initiatives on climate change.
Was there global unity and solidarity at this year's COP Summit?
Here's hoping for some great miracle to change despotic minds and hearts before the globe heats further.
Courtroom escape?
Re: "Israeli strike on school in Gaza kills 18", (World, Nov 13).
The lack of willingness to negotiate a ceasefire appears to be down to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is believed to want the war to continue because that's all that's keeping him out of a possible jail sentence -- he was indicted in 2019 for breach of trust, accepting bribes, and fraud.
The prosecution in that trial rested its case in July 2024, and Netanyahu is now scheduled to testify on the looming Dec 2, following a postponement he requested, except that he has since requested another one, to March 2025.
His reason for these requests is the war. So as long as the war goes on…..