[Qcwa] Contest boycotts?

[Robert Harvey]

Hi everyone,

	For the first time ever today I heard a Ukranian station in the
contest refusing to work U.S. or U.K. amateurs because of the war in =
Iraq.
He stated if you supported his view that the U.S. was conducting an =
illegal
and evil war, then to call and QSO, otherwise, not to bother.  Needless =
to
say, he made many EU contacts, but there was a pretty heavy silence from
A/K/N/W and G hams.

	To say I was enraged is somewhat of an understatement.  This amateur
owes his very freedom to take a stand at all to our victory in the Cold =
War.
For him to take such a stand now is unimaginable to me.  I just had to =
ask
myself just how vocal he was before 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet
Union?  The Ukraine has a long history of purges, mass graves and =
atrocities
that would make your blood curdle.  I can't remember any such in our
history.

	I'm not sure what response is appropriate here.  The gulf (no pun
intended) between the appeasement policies of Europe (so finely stated =
by
men like Neville Chamberlain and the Vichy French) and the U.S. is =
widening
daily. If it spills over to the airwaves, I don't think I can take a =
"this
is Ham Radio, it's apolitical" point of view this time.  I don't know;
voluntary bans on QSO's with DE/F or ON amateurs seems like a fine place =
to
start, even if I, as an ON9, am affected.

	I know I'm probably going to get a broad range of responses; we had
hams working like crazy during the recent North Korean Dxpeditions; I =
would
rather have lunch with Hitler.  Still, this is over the top and really =
makes
me angry.

	Any comments?

73, Bob K2PI