What has happened to strong leaders in the west?

Letters to the editor: our readers share their views. Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

A Ukrainian soldier carries a baby fleeing with her family (AP)

Neville Chamberlain was seen as having no backbone. He only declared war when Hitler invaded a fourth country. Chamberlain was fortunate because there were no nuclear weapons.

John F Kennedy had backbone – even though there was a high risk of nuclear war, he faced Nikita Khrushchev and stared him down over the Cuban missile crisis.

It is clear that today, with the threat of nuclear war, none of our western leaders has any backbone. They have made it clear that Putin can do whatever he likes. The question is: how many countries will he be allowed to invade before someone is prepared to stare him down?

Ray Warren

Australia

Why does this government always act late? Whether it is war, pestilence or, indeed, everything else? The Russian military continues its bombardment of Ukraine cities, yet the UK parliament will observe the sanctity of the weekend before meeting on Monday to assess and – maybe – pass legislation that will enable action to be taken against the Russian wealth that is lodged in the UK.

Anyone with foresight would have acted earlier. But why does Johnson’s government always fiddle while Rome burns?

Ian Reid

Kilnwick

Yet again, Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg has ruled out a no-fly zone over Ukraine on the premise that to shoot down a Russian plane would lead inevitably to World War Three. What he doesn’t explain is how will Nato protect member countries on the border with Ukraine should they be next on Putin’s list, without shooting down Russian planes.

G Forward

Stirling

There is no way Ukraine can win

We have evidently forgotten about wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. Egging Volodymyr Zelensky on to oppose the Russian invasion causes more death and destruction. There is no way that Russia will halt its plan, and there is no way that Ukraine can win. The best advice to give Ukraine is to let Russia occupy the country and to negotiate with the help of the west.

Darius

Address supplied

What is happening in the Ukraine is beyond doubt horrifying and unforgivable. Russia has to accept full responsibility and condemnation for their actions. Actions based on Putin’s beliefs, fears and, quite possibly, paranoia. Having said this, it would not have needed to come to this. The simple fact is that the Ukraine is of no strategic value to Nato, other than aggression, but of enormous strategic importance to Russia in terms of security.

What if the west would have accepted the annexation of Crimea, which, after all, is home to Russia’s major naval base at Sevastopol? Crimea is gone, whether we like it or not. What if the Ukraine had accepted that both the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, largely Russian speaking, did no longer wish to be part of the Ukraine? And finally, what if Ukraine would have accepted Russia’s demand to become a neutral country with guarantees to never allow American missiles or military installations to be placed on its soil and with that close to the Russian border and therefore seen as highly threatening?

What would the Ukraine have lost, other than troublesome areas and endless conflict which started in 2014 after the Orange Revolution? What would the Ukraine have gained, other than peace and prosperity? The west, speak the USA, has always been hypocritical in its dealings with Russia. It has never been, nor will it ever be, in the interest of American neocons and its military industrial complex to find accommodation with Russia. Though America needs Russia to resolve its conflicts with Iran, the Middle East in general and, eventually, with China.

Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s invasion is heroic. No doubt. Though does it serve the country to be supplied with endless arms by the west, only to end up looking like Germany did in 1945, possibly divided into two and with long-term Russian occupation of eastern Ukraine?

America will have to accept one day that both Russia and China have interests of their own and not readily palatable to them. The tectonic plates of world politics have shifted dramatically in recent years. It’s time for America to wake up to the fact that the world is round, no longer flat. America is very quick pointing fingers at the rest of the world, yet has been distinctly unsuccessful with its foreign policies since the Korean War.

Gunter Straub

London

Humanity before the arts

I remember so clearly, in the summer of 1968, when the Prague Spring came to a brutal end as Soviet tanks rolled in, a Russian orchestra was playing in the Proms. They were actually playing Dvorak! I listened to the concert expecting to hear some voices of protest, but heard nothing but the routine applause. We were in the same position as today, looking on impotently as Russian bullies once again stamp on democracy. I felt deeply ashamed, and would feel the same today if I knew that people were putting love of ballet before concern for humanity and decency.

Leon Williams

Dover

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Russian money

Many of our banks and financial institutions have lent Russian businesses huge sums to finance their expansion plans. Why not call in these loans and pay lenders back with money withheld by governments?

This will ensure that banks and financial institutions become less corrupt with the proviso that loans to Russia, indeed any rogue state, are sanctioned by governments. Additionally, it will reduce the money that the oligarchs have to spend in the future.

Boris Johnson has now reduced the time for the financial sanctions to come into force to six months which will include property and other none financial assets. We ought to have stopped the money being moved around years ago but the greedy, morally corrupt banks and financial institutions lobbied and paid large amounts of money to MPs and the Tory to turn a blind eye. The evil of Putin’s regime has tendrils deep within our country and government which needs cutting out.

Keith Poole

Basingstoke