(4 of 5)

It is an outrageous lie to say that our country is in a "state of semi-siege," although TIME'S tendentiousness should no longer surprise us.

We have no more or fewer problems than those of any other country in the turbulent world of our times, but we do have a stable government and a firm purpose: to overcome, by democratic means, the obstacles arising from every process of development.

Fausto Zapata

Assistant Secretary of the Presidency

Mexico City

Directive No. 1

I quote:

"If other measures prove unsuccessful, I intend to invade ... with armed forces to establish constitutional conditions and to prevent further outrages against the minority ... population.

"The behavior of the troops must give the impression that we do not want to wage war against our ... brothers. Therefore, any provocation is to be avoided. If, however, resistance is offered it must be broken ruthlessly."

Bülent Ecevit, prior to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus? No. Adolf Hitler's famous Directive No. 1, prior to the annexation of Austria in 1938.

Alkis C. Joannides

Nicosia, Cyprus

The Gray Zone

Regarding your "map" of the world's atomic resources, I was at first annoyed that TIME did not feel that Canada deserved to be in the "pink" as a potential nuclear power; our scientific expertise is known round the world.

On second thought, I'm proud to be in the gray zone. Who the hell wants to be known for potential nuclear capabilities!

Gerry Harris

Toronto

Second Best

Regarding Stefan Kanfer's views on our book The Best, may we borrow The Best Put-Down of a Critic (page 92):

"I am sitting in the smallest room in my house. I have your review in front of me. Soon it will be behind me."

Peter Passell

Leonard Ross

New York City

Among whatever other problems The Best may have, the book's Best Exit Line is a misquotation set in the wrong locale at the wrong time, which must set some sort of Best Record for Most Errors in Shortest Space.

What former Vice President Alben W. Barkley said was, "I would rather be a servant in the house of the Lord than sit in the seats of the mighty." He made the remark at the 1956 mock Democratic National Convention at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, which, despite the Best Efforts of the two Columbia professors, remains in Virginia, not Kentucky.

I am unlikely to forget the event. As a journalism student at W. and L. and an assistant in its public relations office, I spent the next three sleepless days trying to convince various publications that Mr. Barkley had used the plural "seats" and had not, therefore, arbitrarily rejected a nomination to be God.

Lloyd Dobyns

Correspondent

NBC News

Paris

Heroes from Another Time