Will we stand up to Putin the tyrant?

THE Budapest Memorandum may well go down in history as a “Munich Moment”. History shows that pieces of paper are just that to bullying tyrants. Signed by America, Britain, Ukraine and Russia, it guaranteed the borders and sovereignty of Ukraine.

However, President Putin, ex-KGB Officer, has grown up during the “glory years” of the Soviet Union. Asked about Russia’s future during an election campaign, he had no answer. He wants Russia to return to its Soviet Union past.

The invasionof the Crimea by Russia is a classic tyrant’s act. Hitler and the Sudetenland is the blueprint. Be of no doubt, Putin is prepared to go to war, he already has blood on his hands and he likes it. Russians admire strong leadership.

The question is, after Crimea, what next? Bullies get bolder if they’re not stopped.

It seems to me we have three choices: diplomacy, sanctions or war. Putin cares little for the former and will enjoy the latter.

However, the bunch of gangsters in control in Moscow since 1990 are enjoying their stolen wealth. If it disappears, frozen in assets around the world as the rouble collapses in value, Putin may just find himself alone at the top... and vulnerable.

From: John Riseley, Harcourt Drive, Harrogate.

ONE might have wished that compromise in the Ukraine would make that country a bridge between East and West. Now we have de facto break-up and calls from the West for Russia to respect the territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine.

Before we become slaves to the righteousness of our position we might try reminding ourselves where we stood on territorial integrity for Yugoslavia and then for the remainder of Yugoslavia.

These were quickly found to be expendable in the face of German support for Slovenian and Croatian independence and later the desire to protect the rights of Kosovar separatists. Serb areas of Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo were not so favoured.

In the game of selectively applying “fundamental principles”, and of who is allowed to secede from whom, the West has had its fair share of success. We should now try to keep our hypocrisy within reasonable bounds.

From: Paul Morley, Ribblesdale Estate, Long Preston, Skipton.

RUSSIA has been making its presence felt for a few days in the Crimea and what is the first thing that has happened?

The price of gas has gone up. Unfortunately we are at the mercy of this as our energy is virtually all brought in from abroad. Isn’t it about time that the various incompetents who have been trying, and failing, to run this country properly since 1997 got their collective head out of the clouds and realised it is time to invest lots of money in energy produced in this country by British companies?

By energy I mean clean coal and nuclear energy not the over-hyped, useless wind and solar energy production that would not exist were it not so heavily subsidised. I would have more chance of heating my home by employing a Boy Scout to rub two sticks together.

This should have begun years ago but needs to start very soon or we are in for a very cold, dark future.

From: Michael J Robinson, Park Lane, Berry Brow, Huddersfield.

IF most of our gas supply is fed not merely from Russia but routed through the Ukraine, what price fracking for a UK source now?

From: Terry Duncan, Greame Road, Bridlington, East Yorkshire.

WHY is David Cameron boycotting the Paralympics in Russia?

These super sports people need their country behind them in Russia, ignoring the false picture being presented by the Government.

Mr Cameron, your days are numbered. Maybe Boris will appear in Russia to support our men and women?

Milked dry by bridge fines

From: Trevor Anson, Little Heck.

ALLOW me to introduce myself as the latest cash cow herded up by York City Council on the north York milky way over the infamous Lendal Bridge.

The locals will know it well but as an innocent, careful, unwelcome motorist trying to find my way on to the A19 without need to cross the river, I was seduced into following the main wide road over a bridge which does not appear as such nor signed as such. There are plenty of signs saying this bridge is closed, but no indication where it is.

I now understand that this location is a very productive CCTV fines liability system which no one will admit to as unfair to strangers. Also, if your protest is rejected, you can appeal on pain of doubling the fine, so shut up and pay up.

Heaven only knows to what extent the milking parlour will be swamped on July 6 when thousands of strangers arrive for the Tour de France.

Welcome to Yorkshire have always said that the event would bring much business and finance to the area. This was a very subtle euphemism.

Battle against the sprawl

From: H. Marjorie Gill, Clarence Drive, Menston.

YOU published a letter (Yorkshire Post, March 1) asking why the Government insisted that brownfield sites should be developed for housing instead of adding to the housing in the pleasant villages in the countryside. Well, the writer touched a very sensitive nerve indeed. Here in Menston we are fighting against a planning decision to build several hundred houses which would completely destroy our village and make it part of the urban sprawl.

The fact is that there are several hundred houses on the market in Menston, but the people in the surrounding towns don’t buy them because they don’t wish to live out in “the sticks” as they call it, they prefer to live in the towns and cities where the bright lights are, the shops, entertainment and not least to be not too far from their workplaces.

When you come to consider the facts of life in a town like Bradford, it is so easy to travel the short distance to get to, say Shipley Glen, with a packet of sandwiches and find a sheltered spot to have a picnic, a brisk walk over the moors, then home on the bus to have a night at “the flicks” – what a lovely day out.

Royal puzzle

From: Clive Bailey, The Crescent, Carlton, Stockton-on-Tees.

I SHARE Her Majesty’s puzzlement regarding the claim that Richard lll’s (Yorkshire Post, February 28) remains were found in a Leicester car park. After all, they didn’t have cars in the 15th century, did they?

Gone to pot

From: Keith Wigglesworth, Mead Way, Highburton, Huddersfield.

I NOTE in the media that some local authority or other would like to utilise some of the roads under its jurisdiction for motor sport events. We motorists in Kirklees have been indulging in “pothole slalom” events for years.