We need only stand idly by to allow Putin’s evil prevail

I FEAR that we in the West have become so indulged, so complacent and so pampered in that we are not willing to make the ultimate sacrifice of introducing the most severe sanctions possible against Russia because of the impact it will have on our standard of living.

I am particularly disappointed by the countries that want derogations from sanctions.

Italy recently said they wanted a derogation on luxury goods.

Now, these are the handbags, the coats and the shoes that the Italians are selling primarily to the wives of these Russian oligarchs and, incredulously, they want a derogation from this.

It’s that kind of nonsense I find most galling and exasperating.

It is now accepted we are going to go in with sanctions – let’s ensure these punishments are of the highest degree possible.

I do think the vast preponderance of Irish people are willing to step up to the plate apropos to the issuing of such punitive measures.

It’s also my considered view that other European countries are willing to step up to the plate too.

If necessary we may need to cut off Russia’s gas supply.

We certainly need to kick them out of the international banking system. I am acutely aware that such actions will hurt us but I think we have to be prepared to take that pain.

John O Brien, Co. Tipperary

… Putin has been likened to Hitler in many quarters and there is much about Putin’s actions that resemble Hitler’s. Look at the fanatical and brutal removal of opposition within his own country. Compare the military ‘assistance’ in Syria and other places to Hitler’s part in the Spanish civil war. And now the annexation of Ukraine, stating that it was once part of Russia, and he was protecting ‘Russian’ people whom he alleges were being discriminated against by the Ukraine parliament. It is so like Hitler’s annexation of Austria.

The response has been

immediate by Europe, Britain and the USA. Sanctions are severe and punitive. But until the removal of the Russian banks from the ‘Swift’ exchange mechanism there are loopholes that Russia can (and will) exploit.

But there is even a bigger question. To where will he turn his attention next? Logic will say Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. They are small, somewhat isolated and vulnerable states that were once part of the USSR to which Putin is now equating ‘Russia’. The significant difference is that these states are part of the EU (and NATO).

If Russia targets any or all of these nations, will the EU defend

them militarily? For this they must do under the treaties that built the European Union. But

will they? And if they do not, who will defend Ireland which is neutral, badly armed and cut off from mainland Europe if ever we

need defending? Are we standing idly by while Putin’s evil is destroying a people and a nation who are in the buffer zone between Russia and the European Union? We need that question answered immediately.

John Colgan, by email

...The problem to solve is that the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk are claimed as eastern Ukraine by Kyiv, while the Russian-speaking inhabitants of the hotspots are verifying the territory is western Russia; which it always was. But we are told to believe we now live in the ‘let’s hate Russia’ era, so anything is possible.

Robert Sullivan, Bantry, Co. Cork

Double the trouble

THE ousting of Phil Hogan as EU Trade Commissioner cost Ireland, on the double, in the aftermath of Golfgate. In order to replace him, we put forward Mairead McGuinness as our nominee to be our Irish commissioner in Brussels. Ms McGuiness held the powerful and influential position of First Vice-President of the European Parliament, a role she had to vacate to replace Mr Hogan.

Ireland lost the high profile post of Trade Commissioner. The former Trade and Agriculture Commissioner had a very combative style and, being a Kilkenny cat, was well-versed in the game of political ground hurling and pulling hard against the opposition.

Hogan was exactly the type of player Ireland needed on the international stage.

The government in London must have been delighted with his political demise. Losing both high profile EU portfolios in a short space of time over a game of golf, Ireland succeeded in accomplishing the unthinkable.

It not only shot itself in the foot once, but unbelievably, it did it twice.

Tom Towey, Cloonacool, Co. Sligo