Letters | The West must move away from a black-and-white view of Putin and Ukraine
- Readers discuss the polarisation of views on the Ukraine war, the collapse of the liberal order, and family-building benefits
The very mention of Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to force steam from people’s ears these days. People are for or against. Everything is seen in black and white, rather than shades of grey.
This is neither sensible nor practical. Many sensible people I know, who have been strongly opposed to war in any form for years, have made an exception when it comes to Ukraine.
As a result of the conflict, many countries have damaged their economic prospects for little gain. Tens of thousands have died needlessly. Russians and Belarusians have been found guilty by the West by association.
Russia is fighting this war for reasons that people in the West and elsewhere might have not taken time to understand, and one reason is ideological. Russia does not want to become like the West. It sees the relentless creep of what Mr Putin calls the “golden billion”, or richest people, who are “trying to replace the system of international law with their own so-called rules-based order”. They hide “behind the good slogans of democracy and human rights”, while they “shamelessly pump resources out of developing countries”.