In the front-page article “Attleboro’s mayor is heard in Moscow’’ (July 21), the Globe seems both to criticize and poke fun at Mayor Paul Heroux’s commentaries on the RT television network.

The holder of three advanced degrees and author of a book on US intervention in the Middle East, Heroux is eminently qualified to discuss international affairs.

But by giving a front-page platform to those who seem to think Americans shouldn’t appear on Russian state-funded television, the Globe seems implicitly to support an anti-Russian witch hunt. In fact, many foreign countries sponsor media outlets that reach Americans, just as the Voice of America broadcasts abroad; there is nothing improper about their work.

The story asks readers to laugh at the mayor of a small city who presumes to analyze international affairs. We, on the other hand, think that more politicians and citizens should follow Heroux’s example and speak out on world issues.

After all, the seven shooting wars, in or near the Middle East, that the United States is currently pursuing, and the current tense relations between the United States and Russia cause huge problems for Massachusetts citizens — and their mayors. The rapid increases in the military budget we have seen in recent years are swallowing federal budget priorities whole and have left Massachusetts taxpayers on their own to pay for transit, education, health care, and housing.

Cole Harrison

Executive director

Massachusetts Peace Action

Cambridge