We cannot ignore Russia’s threat to West’s security

FOR some time now it has been apparent that Russia is posing an increasing threat to the West. The poison attack on Sergei Skripal is almost certainly just the latest in (many successful) assassination attempts sanctioned by the Russian secret service. Meanwhile, Russia has got away with annexing parts of the Ukraine scot free. Now the growls from the Russian bear grow ever more ominous. Mr Putin is actually threatening to use his nuclear weapons. What kind of language is that?

And the response from the West has been lamentable. The one person who might be expected to stand up to the President of Russia is the President of the United States but Mr Trump has his own issues with Mr Putin, certainly giving no sign of willingness to take him on.

Who else will do it? The squabbling mess that is the EU? They are far too busy trying to punish Britain for Brexit to notice the real and growing threat in the East, nor is there any consensus about what anyone should actually do.

Mr Putin is said to be seeking revenge for glasnost. He has never forgotten the humiliation of the collapse of the USSR nor the obvious Western glee when it occurred. Well, we in the West ignore this at our peril.

For a start we must establish what actually happened to Mr Skripal and apply all the diplomatic resources at our disposal to deal with the issue. No jaw jaw might mean war war and that is too terrible to contemplate.