At the end of the Second World War the Soviet Union occupied Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Poland and eastern Germany. They were determined to establish governments in eastern Europe who were friendly to the Soviet Union. The Russian-dominated Soviet Union grew into one of the world’s most powerful and influential states and eventually encompassed 15 republics, one of which was Ukraine. In later years communism was established by force or otherwise in very many other countries. Following the onset of the cold war in 1947, the North Atlantic Treaty was signed. Followed in 1949 by Nato, designed to provide collective security against the Soviet Union.
Relationships reached the lowest between America and the Soviet Union in the Kennedy/Khruschev years (1961/62). Events then brought the world close to a nuclear disaster. In the 70s and 80s the USSR and the US signed a series of arms control treaties. In that period, following the death of General Secretary Konstantin Chernenko Mikhail Gorbachev had become the new general secretary of the Soviet Union. Eastern European nations took advantage of the relaxation of Soviet control under Gorbachev and began to break away from communist rule. Everyone – the west, Putin, China – learned the wrong lessons from the Gorbachev era. In 1989 Gorbachev and George Bush declared the Cold War over. In 1990 Gorbachev visited the US for talks with President Bush; there, he agreed to allow a reunified Germany to be a part of Nato. He done so on a promise that Nato troops would not be posted to eastern Germany and that the military alliance would not expand into eastern Europe. Privately, Bush later pushed for Nato’s eastwards expansion.
In 1991 amid the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine voted for independence. Since then they have been unsettled, dogged by corruption, scandals and Russian military interference. The Russian war against Ukraine began with the annexation of Crimea and the war in Ukraine’s Donbas in 2014. The only region of Ukraine that had an ethnic Russian majority was in Crimea, and in a poll taken prior to the annexation of Crimea – a majority did not want to unify with Russia.
Russia has lied at every point during this Ukraine war. There is no justifiable reason for them annexing regions in Ukraine. Annexation as opposed to occupation is claiming something as yours, and much worse. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine constitutes the biggest threat to peace and security in Europe since the end of the Cold War. Putin warned against other countries “meddling”, with the chilling warning that otherwise there would be consequences never encountered in history. Playing chicken with nuclear weapons until somebody swerves, or blinks, may have happened once, during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, it may not happen again.
Putin is not Khrushchev, nor is Biden Kennedy – nor is ‘luck’ to be counted on to occur again.
Dissatisfaction appears to be growing within Russia over the conflict in Ukraine and experts have been discussing whether Putin could be toppled. Opposition to Putin includes Russian nationalists who are actually much more aggressive than Putin.
JAMES G BARRY
Dublin 6
Taoiseach in waiting
Leo Varadkar in his main ard fheis address reserved his most bitter comments for Sinn Féin, which is no surprise to anyone. His flippant and overtly baseless commentary may sound good to the party faithful who’d swallow a hedgehog whole rather than believe that Sinn Féin have any right to be in government. Leo accused Sinn Féin of being anti-housing, because they voted against planning where public land was going to be a conduit to fill the pockets of private developers and vulture funds. He accused Sinn Féin of being anti-EU because they voted against treaties where the government did not make the public aware of the small print involved that was giving away power over things such as our fishing rights. Now we see countries like Norway trying to secure bigger fishing quotes from our waters while our own fishing trawlers are tied up rusting in ports from Killybegs to Youghal in Cork. Leo accused Sinn Féin of being against trade deals pointing to Sinn Féin’s objection to the Canadian trade deal (CETA) between the EU and Canada. This deal would only benefit big multi-nationals who will acquire wide ranging powers to sue EU states that enact health or environmental laws breaching their so-called legitimate expectations of profit. Obviously Leo pays scant regard to the small print, all he wants to see is the big bold headlines about trade deals being signed.
The mantle for attacking Sinn Féin will soon pass from the most anti-republican taoiseach to ever hold office, Micheál Martin, to Leo in an undemocratic merry-go-round of “it’s your turn now” even though, in a fair world, neither of the two received enough votes to be the people’s taoiseach.
JAMES WOODS
Gort an Choirce, Dún na nGall
Taking sides
Our shared world continues to escalate into grim chaos almost entirely man-made (wars, global warming, famine etc) yet, we the people, see our governments and the UN completely helpless to end it.
Most sane people want to see this futile chaos and self-inflicted harm on humanity stopped but we continue to remain silent and ineffective while those in power have divided people into the “us (good) and them (bad)” camps. Ireland should not fall into this divisive trap with the war in Ukraine. It is right that we condemn Russia for violating the sovereignty of this nation but we must also condemn the provocation of the Ukrainian government with its aggressive ultra-nationalist policies and intolerance towards its Russian-speaking citizens.
The Irish government must take the side of peace making and non-alignment in this conflict. We cannot take the stance that Russia is the only rogue state that should be punished while being in a coalition with other rogue nations who have violated (and continue to violate) the sovereignty of other peoples for lesser reasons far away from their own borders.
The futility of this fighting is impacting on all of ‘us’ Ukrainians, Russians and the wider world.
To confirm our neutrality the Irish government should not join any EU-training mission with Ukraine. We must stop immediately the practice of allowing a foreign and Nato nations to use the RAF to patrol our airspace. The Irish Defence Forces must be organised on an all-Ireland basis to defend the complete sovereignty of our Island and to defend peace against the aggression and exploitation of all rogue states through a coalition with the UN.
MICHAEL HAGAN
Dunmurry, Co Antrim
Demonising Russia
I am extremely disappointed (but not surprised) at the so-called Irish government and RTÉ in the way they have joined the BBC and British government in demonising and joining in sanctions on Russia for ironically doing to Ukraine what Britain has done in Ireland for centuries, yet no condemnation or sanctions on Britain (why not?). I have witnessed on TV government ministers visiting Ukraine, shaking hands and handing over millions of Irish taxpayers’ money. One would think this was the only war where war crimes were committed or innocents died (not so) and guess what has been headline news recently – a few high-spirited boys and girls singing an Irish rebel song. This song is one of many which Irish communities worldwide proudly sing – and rightly so. In history Britain never left their colonies bar by being forced out. All this hullabaloo over a bit of a sing-song celebrating Irish freedom fighters, yet during the month of November the British media forces Irish men and women to wear that poppy which is used to honour British soldiers who have committed atrocities worldwide including in Derry and Ballymurphy.
PETER McEVOY
Banbridge, Co Down
