My family and I were saddened by the recent reduction in the number of comic strips included in the paper. We truly enjoy reading and using the funnies as a teaching tool for our 7-year-old twins, with the Sunday funnies being a special event on the weekend.

I understand that there is competition for space in the paper version of the Stars and Stripes, but I wanted to you know that there are some of us who still prefer to hold the paper in our hands. I spend all day on a computer at work, and enjoy the tactile experience I get with the paper. My 7-year-old son Jack really misses “Calvin and Hobbes” and “Mutts.” Please do not reduce the funnies any more. And keep the paper on paper!

Cmdr. Stuart Day

Stuttgart, Germany

Crossword routine is ruined

I am a longtime subscriber to Stars and Stripes in the Daegu, South Korea, area. What has happened to the comics (cartoons), which you have reduced to one page and shrunk in size, plus eliminated popular ones? You have also eliminated the Jumble puzzle, which was very popular. All this became effective Oct. 1.

The used cars ads and such for Europe are of little concern for subscribers in the Pacific region, or have you consolidated both editions? Give me back my funnies and Jumble puzzle.

By the way, the weekend, consolidated issue has both Friday’s and Saturday’s crossword puzzles on facing pages when opened. It is no challenge when the answer is on the opposite page.

Herbert T. Stankiewicz

Daegu, South Korea

Beneficial to reach out to Iran

Regarding the Sept. 25 front-page article “Obama warming to diplomacy with Iran”: President Barack Obama’s recent telephone contact with Iran’s President Hasan Rouhani at the United Nations buoys the hopes of Iranologists that normal diplomatic relations can be restored between the United States and Iran after a three-decade hiatus.

Gary Sick, a scholar at Columbia University’s Middle East Institute, was quite correct that communication between the two presidents, even if brief, would be symbolic and a positive first step.

Iran’s eventual normalization of relations with the United States and the West writ large — coupled with the West’s reciprocal respect for Iran’s culture and sovereignty — auger mutual benefits in the realms of economy and security.

Ralph Groves

RAF Alconbury, United Kingdom

Migrated