Letters: Who holds Trump accountable?

Watching the US stick its greedy nose into everybody’s business (especially a sovereign country with valuable resources), I was wondering, if Canada or UK or any past ally was to kidnap Trump could they then hold him accountable for his own felonies in the US plus supporting Israel’s war crimes in Gaza?

The US has proven its own impotence after five years at managing its domestic affairs when its current President, who facilitated and orchestrated the Capitol insurrection, has still not faced justice.

Rob Buchanan (US citizen), Kerikeri.

Donald Trump has stated that the US is going to help Venezuela after invading it. During my lifetime, whenever the US has gone to help, namely Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, it has ended in disaster and ended with the loss of some 65,000 young American lives.

Laurence Mallon, Te Atatu.

The worry is, after Trump has captured Nicholas Maduro, that he will feel emboldened to apply the same tactic to other countries like Greenland, Colombia and Cuba, regardless of their sovereign rights. Where will he stop?

We just have to wait and see which country a US aircraft carrier arrives at unannounced!

Ruary Laidlaw, Kihikihi.

Has anyone noticed that the annual New Zealand Transport Agency cost to register a private petrol-powered car has risen from $136 to $173?

That represents a hefty 27% increase — yet another blow to New Zealand’s rising cost of living, which many households are already struggling to manage — and so much for the Government’s efforts to get living costs down!

Randal Lockie, Rothesay Bay.

By what criteria do the transport folk judge the success of the Northern busway?

It can’t be by reducing the number of cars on the motorway, because whenever I drive north over the bridge on a weekday morning, the road heading south is absolutely chocka!

I’d be interested to see how they justify spending zillions of dollars and creating mayhem with roadworks based on the fact that the Northern busway is a “resounding” success!

Rodney Peat, Northpark

Once again attention is being focused on out-of-control youth. This time it is the violent teens who carry out vicious unprovoked assaults and robberies on other young people, Youth ‘assaulting kids as a sport’ (NZ Herald, January 5).

Registered child psychologist Sara Chatwin told the Herald “she thinks the way to approach this issue is not about assigning fault or blame to teenagers”. This seems to be the stock answer for excusing so much of young people’s anti-social behaviour.

We heard it when referring to the ram-raiders, shoplifters, smash-and-grab offenders and the perpetrators of the cowardly, vicious attacks on dairy owners.

Perhaps it’s time to take a different approach and lay the blame on the teenagers. The youth know what they’re doing is wrong, and they know the consequences of their shocking behaviour will amount to almost nothing.

By the time a litany of excuses for their offence has been trotted out, so often what they receive is equivalent to a dressing down and being told not to do it again.

So off they go, bragging to their mates, while their victims, in many cases, have had their life changed forever.

Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth.

The uplifting and inspirational story of the Williams family’s 3000km trek along the Te Araroa trail deserves its place among the best-read Premium stories for summer reading.

Hopefully, their journey reflects the dreams and ambitions of many New Zealanders, showing the resilience, strengths and commitment that need to be sourced and utilised if this country is to overcome the challenges it is currently facing.

This family showed the many positive attributes of what is necessary to make this country a place to be proud of and not one that people want to abandon because of the negative morass that seems to currently embrace it.

Bernard Walker, Mount Maungaui.