VENEZUELA and Turkey and not two countries which normally bear comparison, but here is one that I believe to be non-invidious.

In Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, faced with massive internal opposition and an attempted coup, cracked down on his opposition, arrested 50,000 people, most of whom were held months without trial, purged the army, civil service and educational system of dissidents and muzzled the press. Despite all that, when he organised a plebiscite to centralise power in his hands, he won – in a disputed manner – but only by a wafer-thin margin. Trials of opponents are continuing in Turkey. Repression is continuing.

What has been conspicuous in this process, well over a year now in continuation, is the deafening silence of Turkey's democratic allies, Britain and the United States. The reasons are obvious, Turkey is needed as a barrier against immigrants from the war-torn Middle East, and as an ally – albeit a very dubious one – in the wars and proxy wars of western imperialism in that area.

So – that's all right then?

Faced with a catastrophic fall in oil prices, and the internal and external sabotage organised by the United States and its Venezuelan allies, who had already organised a failed coup against his predecessor Hugo Chavez, Nicolás Maduro cracked also down on opposition – though to an extent that is a pale shadow of what President Erdogan has done – and also organised a plebiscite to increase his powers. This was boycotted by the opposition, which they surely would not have done, if they thought they could have won. Legitimacy is thus spuriously claimed by abstention.

Our leaders, who have been all but silent over Turkey now raise a chorus to denounce the "evil dictator" President Maduro, whose actions against his opponents have been, in comparison with the terror in Turkey, mild. The reasons are again, obvious. The west does not need Venezuela's oil any more, or at least with fracking, not to the extent it did, and raising a hue and cry over Mr Maduro deflects attention from the global policy disasters on the US and its allies.

It is being demanded of Jeremy Corbyn that he denounce Mr Maduro; he should only consider doing so when Theresa May denounces Mr Erdogan in at least equal measure.

Ian R Mitchell,

21 Woodside Terrace, Glasgow.

IN his televised valedictory address in1961 retiring President Dwight Eisenhower, an ex-military man, warned the American people of the imminent danger posed to them and the world by the ambition of the powerful military-industrial complex. He rightly predicted an era where American foreign policy would be driven by financial gain where military power would be used overseas to promote the interests of corporate America over the dead bodies of foreign nationals and US troops. It was not a new idea, as it is exactly what the British Empire did in its heyday. How right he was and how the American voters – and we Brits – have been hoodwinked and brainwashed into believing the half-truths and lies used to excuse military intervention in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Now there is talk of sanctions being imposed on Russia on the grounds of its “military aggression” in Syria (“Russian plan to cut number of US diplomatic staff is condemned”, The Herald, August 31). Talk about pot and kettle. The US has overtly and clandestinely via the CIA been involved in violent regime-change in countless countries across the globe and currently has troops on the ground fighting in Syria where it has no mandate other than from itself to be present in a sovereign country. Russia, on the other hand, is there by invitation from the legitimate elected government of the state.

Ever since the demise of the Ottoman Empire the corporate world has competed to exploit the oil and gas found beneath Arab sand; that is why the Americans forces, with our assistance. are there. It’s all about money and corporate profits, that why we sell arms to Saudi Arabia and why Yemeni children are dying from starvation and cholera if they are lucky enough to survive the cluster-bombs. Do you ever wonder what kind of world we would have if the trillions of dollars spent on weapons and bombs wasted blasting the Middle East back to the Stone Age had been dropped on them in the form of dollar notes? But then again corporate America and its shareholders wouldn’t have made 10 per cent on the deal.

David J Crawford,

Flat 3/3 131 Shuna Street, Glasgow.