Beyond Iran

To the Editors:

In your article on the Crescent of Crisis [Jan. 15] you quote Zbigniew Brzezinski as saying, "I'd have to be blind or Pollyannish not to recognize that there are dark clouds on the horizon." On the horizon." It is clear that those clouds are already formed--right over our heads. To say otherwise is at best Pollyannish, and at worst irresponsibly myopic.

Paul L. Gomory Jr.

San Francisco

Objectivity would require the addition of the American eagle looking from the west with a gaze as interested and predatory as that of the Russian bear.

Bruce Arnold

Princeton, N.J.

Can the U.S. continue to count its foreign friends only among the handful of titular heads or figureheads of state who appear to oppose abroad the principles we espouse at home? Many conflicts could be shortened, and many friendly leaders saved from grief, if the U.S. would preempt Soviet or Cuban support of popular movements, instead of being cornered into opposing them.

Jim Faryar

Los Angeles

Henry Kissinger says about Iran: "The remedial measures that are needed in this crisis should receive bipartisan support. There will be opportunities later to discuss what went wrong." This reasoning led to the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. Thanks for the reminder, Henry.

Joseph Manganello

Westville, N.J.

Carter from a Distance

You quote Seymour Martin Lipset as saying, "Carter is in the same boat as Nixon, looking good abroad while facing a sea of domestic troubles" [Jan. 1]. Of course Carter faces a sea of domestic troubles, but he does not look good abroad, certainly not in Europe. Americans can play it down or explain it away, but they should not ignore it.

Peter Sypcher

Wallisellen, Switzerland

TIME seems convinced that Carter has put his presidency on the line with regard to his Middle East peace efforts. Bull-feathers! Even the majority of his critics would acknowledge that whatever takes place between Egypt and Israel, Carter's effort to conclude a peace was courageous and worthwhile. This is one game in which winning isn't necessarily everything; Americans still respect good causes, lost or otherwise.

John Rachal

Oxford, N.C.

Your article on foreigners buying land [Jan. 8] states that "the only U.S. tax that a nonresident alien owner escapes is on capital gains if he sells his land." This doesn't tell the whole story. Nonresident aliens also pay less estate tax to the U.S. For example, in 1979, on a taxable estate of $500,000, the U.S. citizen or resident pays estate tax of $117,800; the nonresident alien pays only $50,400. This is outrageous. U.S. tax law should not discriminate in favor of the foreign investor.

Bob Packwood

U.S. Senator, Oregon

Regardless of the problems or benefits created by foreign investment in U.S. agriculture, capital gains tax avoidance on the part of foreign investors is no small matter. As a matter of equity, it is difficult for American farmers to pay a capital gains tax when they sell land, while their German or Japanese neighbors pay no tax at all. Moreover, the avoidance of capital gains taxes gives the alien purchaser an up-front advantage of around 25% on initial investment. With no capital gains tax, there is no deterrent to speculation in U.S. land.

Malcolm Wallop

U.S. Senator, Wyoming

China's Leap Forward

Irony reigns supreme! Teng Hsiaop'ing chosen Man of the Year [Jan. 1] for leading 1 billion Chinese toward modernization while simultaneously the Shah of Iran has been run out of his country for modernizing it too fast. May Teng heed the Shah's experience so that he may not be condemned to repeat it.

Eduardo Aguirre Quinones

Lima

There is one fatal flaw in Red China's "liberalization." As in other dictatorships, the new freedoms are not rights guaranteed by effective laws but rather privileges given at the whim of a dictator that can be taken away at the whim of the same or some future dictator.

Michael E. Farris

Gallatin, Tenn.

The Deerslayers

If killing harmless deer isn't bad enough, now the "animals" that call themselves hunters have to put the blame on their wives: "Deer season was the only chance each year of really getting free of feminine domestication [Jan. 15]." If they want to be "free" and out in nature, why don't they mow their lawns?

Kay Friedland

Coram, N. Y.

Had I known over the last 26 years of fighting with the wild hordes of hunters that descend on us farmers each autumn that their real reason for shooting at the house and livestock at all hours, and threatening to burn me out if I tell them to get off my property, was to get away from their wives--I would have told them to go the hell home and file for a divorce.

Barry L. Miller

White Hall, Md.

By publishing Peter Stoler's biased antihunting essay, you and the author qualify for our "Crooked Shaft" award. This honor goes only to those who contribute significantly to perpetuating the contemporary myth that most hunters are bloodthirsty, hard-drinking, rough-talking, callous clods.

M.R. James, Editor/Publisher

Bowhunter Magazine

Fort Wayne, Ind.

Unsportsmanlike Conduct

Over the years, no one man has completely destroyed my love of the game of football more than Ohio State's Woody Hayes [Jan. 15]. If he is a symbol of anything, it is of the sad state of affairs that occurs when a healthy spirit of competition is replaced by an insatiable lust for victory at any cost.

Michael McConeghy

New York City

While we sprawl at the bar or in front of our TV sets mumbling "Kill 'em, kill 'em!" Hayes and his ilk reflect the maniacal gleam in our eyes. In 100 years --or days--what difference will it make who won any bowl game?

Jack C. Rossetter

Elm wood Park, Ill.

We love you, Woody.

David Herman

Napoleon, Ohio

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