I’m not a fan of Putin - or the West’s hypocrisy over war

BARBARA Attwood criticises me (Letters April 14) without replying to any of my points. I do not support President Putin, who has made a terrible mistake. I hate this war and I pray regularly for it to end.

What I object to is the hypocrisy which says whatever the West does is right, but, when Russia does the same thing, that is wrong.

Why is it all right for us to invade Afghanistan and Iraq and to bomb Libya, but it is not all right for Russia to invade Ukraine?

Why is it all right for the USA to do its damnedest to prevent left-wing governments from coming to power in the Americas, but it is not all right for Russia to want a sympathetic government in Ukraine? And so on.

Robert Kagan, a US analyst, points out, “Russian decisions have been a response to the expanding post–cold War hegemony of the United States and its allies in Europe; … it is misleading to insist that Putin’s invasion was entirely unprovoked.”

I wonder if people who insist on Ukraine’s right to join the EU and NATO ever look at a map of Ukraine in its European context.

Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe. It would be a huge advance of the EU or NATO into territory Russia has traditionally regarded as within her sphere of influence.

Stewart Purvis, EX-ITN and Ofcom, worries “when broadcasters stand with Ukraine against Russia” and quotes from Al Jazeera, “Watching rolling news on Western channels, we should question what objectivity, neutrality and impartiality mean in journalism.”

What is extraordinary is that the media have regurgitated government propaganda without any challenge to the narrative.

We should not forget our own government’s role in hyping up the rhetoric.

We are already waging economic war on Russia, and proxy war by the supply of weapons.

The biggest risk of nuclear war is if Putin feels the West has backed him into a corner, just as NATO was ready to use nuclear weapons first. Peter Eyres

Cheltenham