A popinjay still posing with Putin

FOREIGN wars, even very important ones, have a way of fading into the background. We cannot hear the screams or smell the acrid smoke. Warfare, despite its cruel and nasty nature, is repetitive, and the human mind sickens of its details. So there is a danger, after six months of hard pounding, that Russia’s criminal invasion of Ukraine is losing its power to shock and anger us.

We must not let this happen. Our concern for the people of Ukraine should continue as strong as ever. And we should be wary of Continental efforts to humanise the aggressor, Vladimir Putin. France’s President Emmanuel Macron has already been led down the garden path by the Kremlin, just before the invasion. Now this popinjay has renewed contact with Mr Putin, supposedly trying to avert an urgent nuclear threat at the Zaporizhzhia power station. He may have good intentions but should ask himself who is using whom in this exchange.