UNTIL we recognise that the humanitarian situation in Europe is a symptom of the crisis in the Middle East which the West helped to create, we will not make progress in resolving it.

At the heart of this crisis is the millenarian movement Isis, and the sectarian war in Iraq and Syria between Shia and Sunni Muslims, which it is greatly aggravating. We must start by grasping that amongst all the actors in that conflict, Isis, with its mixture of genocide, slaving, YouTube-sadism and cultural erasure is uniquely evil.

Just as we made common cause with the Soviet Union against National Socialism, we will have to do so with President Assad’s regime in Syria and his Russian and Iranian allies.

We must also look with a critical eye at our supposed allies in the region. Saudi and other Gulf Arab money was one of the essential ingredients in the creation of Isis. This is unsurprising given that it is carrying out a Wahabi vision of Islam.

Equally worrying is that our Nato ally Turkey has shown a great deal more enthusiasm for fighting against the Kurds than against Isis. Also, the Turkish government has made next to no effort to stop the flow of refugees and migrants through Turkey to the European Union.

Nor should we forget that the massive flow of people through Libya came about because David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy turned that country into a failed state by overthrowing Colonel Gaddafi.

Isis is today’s equivalent of the Nazis or the Khymer Rouge. Both practically and morally it must be eliminated, and only force of arms will do that.

Otto Inglis,

6 Inveralmond Grove, Edinburgh.

THE left – SNP, Labour and Greens – seem incapable of analysing any issue except in terms of inequality and poverty. Absolute poverty - hunger, famine, disease and lack of shelter – has largely been banished from the planet, occurring infrequently and only where poor governance, political and economic corruption, tribalism and socialistic totalitarianism toxically coincide.

Relative poverty, between individuals and states and no matter what the absolute level of income per head and per household, for reasons of simple economic arithmetic, will always be with us. It is synonymous with inequality. It provides the last redoubt for moral grandstanding and hand-wringing.

We see this in the response of the bien pensants to the current migrant crisis. Political and church leaders and celebrities publicly choke back crocodile tears while simultaneously engaging in a tasteless numbers auction on how many refugees the EU and the UK should take. The calculated sanctimony of it makes me sick.

It is obvious to all who have eyes to see that few among the refugees at Calais or surging into Italy, Hungary and Greece are suffering from absolute poverty. Capitalism has eradicated that, but, for the first time in human history, has supplied the wherewithal to migrate for a better life. Most have paid hundreds/thousands in sterling, dollars or euros to get to Europe. The great majority are clearly not starving, and are adequately clothed, despite their weary trek. Large numbers carry mobile phones and many have bank cards in order to access their funds. Undoubtedly they suffer from relative poverty: they are poorer than us Europeans.

But in the leftist canon these people are all refugees seeking asylum from political and economic oppression, and all should be admitted now and in the future. This might make leftists feel good about themselves, but it is a thoughtless approach to policy, politics and, most of all, to the safety of human life.

The only sane policy in this clamour is that put forward by the Prime Minister. In this mess, largely propelled, if not created, by the opaque political signals and border policies of the EU, it is well nigh impossible to separate the politically oppressed from economic migrants among those arriving at our borders. We should admit refugees only from the camps that the UK, more generously than all other countries, is funding across the Middle East. The priority should be limited to providing a safe haven for some, but not all, religious groups persecuted and terrorised by ISIL and other such hardline Muslim organisations: above all a policy that is compatible with social cohesion at home. We have only ever had open borders to economic migrants since Brussels traduced the spirit and letter of Schengen. We must go back to the employment criterion that was originally included in the Schengen Agreement.

Richard Mowbray,

14 Ancaster Drive, Glasgow.

TELEVISION coverage of the thousands of refugees arriving in Europe in recent weeks shows that women and children are greatly outnumbered by men.

This raises the disquieting question of what happens to the women and children whom some of the refugees will have left behind?

R Russell Smith,

96 Milton Road, Kilbirnie.