OPINION

Loophole exposed

Re: "Hungarian minister infects his diplomat" (BP, Nov 11, 2020).

The infamous Covid infection of a Hungarian diplomat by his own visiting minister exposes the evident flaws in the Thai quarantine system. It does little good to quarantine arrivals to the kingdom if they are first allowed to interact with -- and infect -- drivers, colleagues and friends between the airport and quarantine hotels. In similar vein, if quarantine protocols are not rigorously implemented, infected individuals can readily pass the disease to hotel staff or to others under quarantine. Such breaches of protocol do little to instil confidence in the quarantine system here.

Regarding Petr Ivanovich and assertion the FBI "found no collusion with Russia", (PostBag, Nov 14).

It is worth noting that having Trump's Department of Justice investigate possible illegal acts by Trump is somewhat akin to having foxes investigating shenanigans in the henhouse.

His dismissal of [former FBI director] James Comey in particular is what raised the accusation of obstruction of justice.

Mueller's report spent almost 200 pages describing "numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign". He found that "a Russian entity carried out a social media campaign that favoured presidential candidate Donald J Trump and disparaged presidential candidate Hillary Clinton". He also found that "a Russian intelligence service conducted computer-intrusion operations" against the Clinton campaign and then released stolen documents.

While Mueller was unable to establish a conspiracy between members of the Trump campaign and the Russians involved in this activity, he made it clear that "[a] statement that the investigation did not establish particular facts does not mean there was no evidence of those facts".

In fact, Mueller also wrote that the "investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts". (Time Magazine, June 2019).

If we are discussing the subject of misinformation, it is important to be accurate and include context.

One hopes that, under the Biden administration, the FBI will be free to carry out a full investigation of possible Trump crimes without the threat of sacking by a sycophantic attorney-general that Trump appointed to protect himself.

Re: "Never underestimate the dog lover," (Postscript, Nov 15).

Yes, America is now becoming a source of escalating international bemusement -- or is it amusement? For Mr Trump, the 2020 election is a carefully plotted farce. He came to clean up the "swamp" in Washington but is now drowning in it and fighting back to clog it up further. Mr Trump did not need any dogs as he was busy squawking all day. As the saying goes, every dog has his day.

Although the election is over, he will be claiming that he is best suited to lead American democracy and "Make America Fake Again".

Mr Trump reminds me of a quote by Grouch Marx: "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies."