Nations must pick a side as Ukraine suffers

I can't help feeling that the news from Ukraine has gone far beyond war crimes. Shootings in front of families, booby trapping bodies, stealing humanitarian aid and deliberately targeting civilians and using them as human shields are crimes against humanity itself. Keeping a “dignified” distance to avoid a Third World War or damage to our economy and the like are no longer “options”.

Every nation must choose whether they are for or against, not the war itself, but the actions of the Kremlin. If we haven't the courage, as Kennedy did with Cuba, to issue an ultimatum for war, then surely any country including France, Hungry or India must be tossed out of the “humanity club” and immediately sanctioned.

In my day, there was much discussion of how the German population could just stay quiet in the face of atrocities. The answer was that they ignored it at the beginning until it was too late.

The UK government has done a great deal but now is the time for punitive sanctions against pro-russia friendly governments, even if it means increased taxes for the better-off to “pay the price”. What price is Ukraine paying now in human lives and in rebuilding costs for tomorrow?

If it means delaying dealing with environmental matters, then what about the cost now in the pollution of the atmosphere from bombs and dust – and potentially from radiation? This is indeed a critical point of no-return. we are either in support of“freedom ”100 percent, or we back silence and putting our own interests first.

JAMES WATSON

Dunbar, East Lothian