Denouncing Putin does us no favours

DENOUNCING Vladimir Putin as an insane monster, a modern Satan, is only a dishonest way to confuse yourself that you are better than you are.

This world is a complex puzzle requiring clear minds to comprehend it, without you deliberately blinding yourself to unpalatable facts which are not accurate.

I am quite prepared to believe that Putin is a homicidal maniac if you tell me, since I cannot know otherwise, but that must seriously handicap all his thinking.

This popular Western perspective, in the words of politicians, is a child’s view of the world, goodies and baddies, a determination neither to perceive nor accept truths laid before them.

Educated adults should mature beyond Wild West Hollywood and online game attacks with assault rifles, which might be a clue to understanding why this is a contemporary disease of the masculine ego, seeking to find personal reassurance.

Self-criticism is the most valuable tool of a wise person.

Not one of these politicians has spoken of their interpretation of world events, if or when the war could be brought to a conclusion.

The military experts depress me most, offering us their shared, prejudiced view that Russians are incompetent when they retreat behind the River Dnieper, so that Ukrainians are bombarded, and live in fear of extensive flooding from destruction of a huge dam.

I suspect that only a certain type of personality is promoted to the top in the forces and secret services of Western nations.

There is only one perspective with any validity for anyone, a responsible plan for a world in which we all avoid our own extinction by striving to cooperate with people who do not agree with us. C N Westerman

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They were forbidden to speak to each other in Welsh by the English headmaster. Today he would have been prosecuted under the Race Relations Act of 1968.

In spite of serious objections from my headmaster, I had no wish to enter Oxford or Cambridge. He would not give me a reference to the University of Wales. I was welcomed with open arms at Swansea to study political theory and institutions. I loved every day of it.

Well done Wales, especially golden boy Gareth Bale. All the best in the World Cup.

Saros Kavina

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