Letters: Stop the appeasement and stand up to this bully

It is not Nato, or the West, who went to war. It was Russia. To concede Ukraine to them, as we did Crimea, is to permit Vladimir Putin reward for his aggression. This little Czar has stated quite clearly what his aims are ever since he first came into power. There has been no attempt on his part to hide the fact that in his view the break-up of the Soviet Union was a catastrophe.

If President Putin succeeds in the conquering of a nation whose "crime" in his eyes was to seek democracy, the professor and his ilk may not be apologists; but they certainly encourage a bully by their disinclination to stand up to him. Where next, professor ... Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia?

The professor believes that "Putin's war and Nato expansion have to be seen as two sides of the same coin". This is not simply wrong, it is naive in the extreme. Nato is not an empire bent on imperialism or expansion. It is a defensive organisation whose very purpose is to prevent its members being threatened by far larger autocratic powers.

I will be surprised if, in view of the Ukrainian situation, Finland and Sweden do not now seek membership of Nato. I am sure the Baltic states are only too glad they already are members.

None of these countries, nor Nato, wishes to invade Russia. They are in an alliance for their own security.

Standing up to a bully is not warmongering. The results of a failure to do so have been all too painfully documented in history. There is an old saying that evil triumphs when good men stand by and do nothing.

Roger Graham, Inverkip.

SAY NO TO A NO-FLY ZONE

THOSE advocating that Nato implement a no-fly zone in Ukraine need to remember that Nato is not an offensive alliance, but rather, a defensive one, which I certainly hope would face down any dictator who invaded one inch of Nato territory.

Ukraine is not yet a full member of Nato (but apparently hopes to be in the future); thus, I think that Nato’s current policy of supplying weapons to Ukraine, which will be used from Ukraine, is the correct one which gives Vladimir Putin no excuse to start an escalation which could lead to World War Three – a horrible prospect, but one which needs to be potentially envisaged as a very last resort in the face of a dictator; nobody but a lunatic invites that, which is why President Putin has to be stopped by indirect means.

But to get back to the issue of a no-fly zone: would it really be effective against artillery shelling and missile strikes?

By all accounts, Ukranian forces are already being effective in shooting down many Russian aircraft with Nato-supplied weapons and will probably shoot down many more; plausibly, this is more effective in both the narrower and wider focus than some kind of emotionally-conceived no-fly zone.

Philip Adams, Crosslee.

* MPs in Westminster responded to President Zelenskyy's impassioned speech with a standing ovation (“We’ll fight in forests, fields and shores, vows Zelenskyy”, The Herald, March 9). His Churchillian-like defiance was not unlike that of another inspirational figure, Dolores Ibarruri, whose small, but imposing, statue stands with arms upraised, in Clyde Street, Glasgow. Below the statue is the plaque bearing the message "Better to die on your feet, than live forever on your knees".

Should, in the face of the larger force of Russian military, defeat befall the brave Ukrainian defenders, President Putin should remember that few occupying forces can hold down a country for ever in the face of opposition of its people.

Hopefully, there will, in the end, be no need for many to die on their feet, nor to live forever on their knees.

Malcolm Allan, Bishopbriggs.

WE ARE BEING SHAMED BY THE UK

HOW corrupt, self-serving and incompetent must UK governance become before those in Scotland still remaining loyal to the Union wake up and smell the coffee? Never mind the deliberate erosion and undermining of devolved governance, the introduction of which was supported by nearly 75% of the voting electorate, it is evident that a Tory Government at Westminster will never reflect the kind sentiment of the majority in Scotland towards immigrants and asylum seekers, nor our aspirations for all including the poor and the vulnerable.

Today’s spin, an adaptation of previous Brexit spin also seemingly swallowed by many in the mainstream media (BBC political commentators among them), of the UK being “compassionate” and “welcoming” is another blatant lie among the proliferation of “world-leading” claims from an abysmal, delusional and disingenuous UK Prime Minister. With a paltry number of visas granted by the Home Office and desperate refugees fleeing savage atrocities in war-torn Ukraine and hoping to join relatives in the UK now redirected from Calais to Brussels, Paris or Lille, we are all internationally shamed.

Stan Grodynski, Longniddry.

DON'T HALT THE INDY CAMPAIGN

I AM astonished at the views being expressed in The Herald that now is not the time to campaign for independence (“Blackford doubles down on pledge to remove Trident amid nuclear tensions” The Herald, March 7, Neil Mackay, The Herald, March 8, and Letters, March 9).

Scotland, as a country, a nation, has next to no role in the Ukraine crisis; the UK Government is responding on our behalf. We might not like that response but our representatives are being swatted away like flies; Ian Blackford, in today's Prime Minister's Questions (March 9), was treated as a mere annoyance by our shouty Prime Minister. Nicola Sturgeon was interviewed on Radio 4 on Monday but was aggressively questioned about her opposition to nuclear weapons and nuclear power.

We have voted consistently since 2014 for an SNP-led Government that now has a mandate from us, the people, to hold a referendum during this parliament. In that referendum we have the opportunity to demonstrate to the Westminster Government and to the world that we were lied to during the 2014 referendum, we were lied to during the Brexit referendum, we have suffered because of the UK Government's poor response to the Covid crisis, we oppose the recent cut in Universal Credit, the rise in National Insurance contributions to fund the English health service, the weak response to the call for sanctions against Russia and the appalling conditions the UK is imposing on Ukrainians who wish to seek refuge here.

An independent Scotland, like Ireland, would be able to welcome people fleeing from Ukraine, we would be able to tell the UK Conservative and Labour parties that we don't want their nuclear weapons just 30 miles from our largest city and we would be able to develop our wind and tidal power to support our move to net zero.

Patricia Fort, Glasgow.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR AN APOLOGY?

NICOLA Sturgeon has spent the last two years avoiding any criticism of her Government by reminding us that there is a pandemic which is requiring all her focus. Covid has not gone and we now have a major war in Europe, so isn’t it marvellous that she has found the time to encourage a lynch mob mentality directed at a lower league footballer (I am not condoning his actions) and to pardon witches condemned to death in Scotland in the 1500s (“Sturgeon apologises to Scottish ‘witches’”, The Herald, March 9)?

Is there no end to her talents? May I suggest she apologises to the descendants of John Comyn and compensates them for his murder at the hands of the great Scottish patriot, Robert Bruce?

Duncan Sooman, Milngavie.

BEFORE the introduction of the hate crime legislation which would make a criminal offence of misogyny (“Proposal on misogyny legislation backed ‘in principle’ by Sturgeon”, The Herald, March 9), perhaps Nicola Sturgeon could define a woman? It seems most of our legislators don’t know.

Michael Watson, Glasgow.

Read more: We cannot contemplate indyref2 while a madman threatens atomic war