IS THIS “We hate Putin” month?

I am probably out of step with the mob, but it seems to me that in the beginning all the Russian-speaking folk living in Ukraine (through no fault of their own) asked for was more autonomy over their own affairs.

This was refused by the Ukrainian Government, which only exacerbated their frustration so they escalated the situation until fighting broke out.

Then instead of offering help to mediate the situation, the West took the opportunity to blame Russia and applied weak sanctions on Putin.

No person (not even Putin) can be expected to control each individual rebel in each city all the time, rebels have no rules or they make them up as they go.

Now we have the horror of the MH17 loss and the West made up its mind it was Putin again.

Maybe he had a hand in it, but only an independent assessment can decide who was responsible. I well remember the US showing us proof beyond doubt that Sadam had weapons of mass destruction, which proved totally incorrect.

Sanctions will do no good; Russian sanctions could be much worse. We should try to mediate for peace between Ukrainians and Russian speaking Ukrainians before things get much worse. The UN could lead the way and save peace in the area, without Putin or Obama.

Dennis Barton, Woodthorpe, York.