"NEVER let a good crisis go to waste," said Sir Winston Churchill and the Commons Defence Select Committee seems to agree with him ("Nato told to boost presence in Baltic to deter Russia attack", The Herald, July 31),.
Rational reflection leads us to believe that we do not want to go to war with Russia, but as the deliberations of the Select Committee illustrates, institutional momentum has a mind of its own.
This was exactly the place where we were 100 years ago, almost to the day. Kaiser Bill and his cousin Nicholas II dreaded war, though when it came their respective militaries felt that they had never been as ready for it.
Mikhail Gorbachev agreed to the dismantling of the Soviet Union and our leaders told him that there would be no further expansion of Nato. It is the duty of our leaders to come to terms with some geopolitical realities, one of which is the fact that the geopolitical tectonic plates of Russia's western borders, having no natural barriers, have never and will never be stable. They will grind constantly and without proper management, as we are witnessing now, from time to time bloodily.
Bill Ramsay,
84 Albert Avenue,
Glasgow.
The Commons Defence Committee says that Nato needs to move missile launchers and other weaponry to the Baltic states to help deter an attack from Russia and has called for a "continuous presence" of Nato troops in the Baltic with the re-establishment of large-scale military exercises. The UK is preparing to send a full battle group to Poland in October. Nato, we are told, has not considered Russia an adversary for 20 years but was now forced to do so because of events in the Ukraine. All this sabre rattling seems to give the lie to our so-called deterrence strategy. Or is there a plan to "nuke" Russia if a few more border incidents occur around Russia's European boundaries?
I should have thought that extending a hand of friendship to a nation which has so often been our ally would make more sense and would lead to greater understanding between us as fellow Europeans. The Russians have certainly not forgotten what total war is all about and I am sure they have no wish to repeat the experience.
Kenneth D Conway,
51 Chalmers Road,
Ayr.
WHEN the people of Kiev ousted the democratically elected President of Ukraine they effectively disenfranchised half the Ukrainian people.
Why blame Russia for the inevitable reaction?
The government of Ukraine is responsible for what happens in Ukraine. It chooses to wage war on its own people. That is tragic.
We need mediators, but all we get are countries taking sides in what has been an unnecessary conflict. To whom can we turn for mediators when most western countries take sides in order to blame Russia?
John Kelly,
16 Park Avenue,
Edinburgh.
"THUGGISH, dishonest and reckless." Those words are attributed to Sir Peter Westmacott, the UK's ambassador to the US ("Quotes of the day", The Herald, July 31). This is hardly the expected language of a political representative far less that of an appointed diplomat. Regardless of his personal sentiments, Sir Peter should be advised to keep his personal views to himself in these times of fragile International relationships.
As we all know, careless talk is dangerous, but foolish remarks can prove even more so.
Allan C Steele,
22 Forres Avenue,
Giffnock.
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