Editor: We need to ask ourselves if Russia is really our enemy? During WWII, they were our ally. While we attacked Germany from the west, Russia advanced on them from the east, causing Hitler’s downfall. Then, while General MacArthur was planning the invasion of Japan, Russia moved against Japanese forces in Manchuria.

After the war, our military industrial complex needed an enemy so that government money would keep flowing into their coffers.

China and many other countries were too weak to be considered a threat. Therefore, we picked on Russia. Stalin was an evil man, but he never waged war against us or our allies.

In modern times, Russia is hacking our government agencies, which is called spying. What do we think the NSA is doing in that huge building of theirs -playing computer games? NSA is spying on everyone as well, including top government officials. This is where the news leaks are coming from.

There are those who complain that Russia took back the Crimea, which was a part of Russia on and off since 1783. Crimea is populated by an ethnic Russian majority, and on March 16, 2014, 96.7 percent voted in favor of leaving Ukraine and being annexed by Russia.

In his interview with Bill O’Reilly, President Trump said, "Well, you think our country is so innocent?" He’s right. We invaded Vietnam, Panama, Bosnia, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and others. Our longest war is in Afghanistan where we no longer are fighting Al Qaida, but the Taliban, which was the legal government that we helped overthrow.

We overthrew Hussein (Iraq) with false intelligence, and we helped terrorist groups overthrow Kaddafi (Libya). We totally disrupted the balance in the Middle East, giving rise to ISIS and strengthening Iran’s position. We have special operation forces in 135 countries. All of this is to support the military industrial complex.

In 1961, as President Eisenhower was leaving office, he said, "We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex."

Don’t get me wrong, I am in complete support of a strong military, but it needs to be used wisely. The blood of our children and grandchildren depend on how our military is used.

President Trump is right in trying to make Russia an ally. We don’t need another enemy in the world. North Korea, Iran and ISIS are enough. The "left" is paranoid over Russia while China is building a large military. Wouldn’t it be better to have Russia as a friend?

Len Calderone

Midway