Dear Editor:

Syrian dictator Assad has slaughtered thousands upon thousands of Syrians to hold on to power, while the world mostly wrings its hands and imposes a few economic sanctions. The sanctions have failed to make Assad step down. Sanctions are the right idea; they just don't go far enough.

It's going to take a full-blown global economic quarantine: No international phone service; no mail; no air service; no rail service; no banking; no stock or bond trading; no cargo shipping; no fuel; no tourism. In short, shut down the Syrian economy.

President Kennedy used a quarantine to end the Cuban missile crisis.

We say the time has come to play hard ball in another hemisphere.

Of course, there will never be such a quarantine. The vested interests, which will be affected both in and out of Syria, are simply too powerful.

But it's always good to seek new approaches to serious problems, both inside and outside the box.

John VanOrsdell
Nora Stevens
Boothbay