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		Letter to the Editor Northamptonshire Chronicle - Wednesday 8th September 2004 Dear Sir, John Clarke (letters, 6/9) tries to imply that during the Cold War, both the former USSR and the USA sought to maintain "imperialist" control in their respective spheres of influence in Europe. If he really cannot see the difference between the free democracies of Western Europe, and the pitiful subjection of the Eastern European countires under the Soviet yoke, he must be blind indeed. Hundreds of refugees were shot trying to cross the Berlin Wall from East to West. I cannot recall anyone seeking to make the crossing the other way. He tries to suggest that America is engaged in "Imperialism". Yet all that America seeks to export is freedom and democracy, and in the last couple of decades the number of democratic countries in the world has dramatically increased. The recently-free countries of central and eastern Europe, eight of which have just joined the EU, have been released from servitude and oppression by the courage, vision and determination of the USA, and especially of Ronald Reagan, ably supported and encouraged by Margaret Thatcher. The knee-jerk anti-Americanism of people like Mr. Clarke is not only ridiculous: it is damaging and demeaning to all of us. Yours faithfully, Roger Helmer MEP