End the war

Sir: Timothy Garton Ash’s article on Ukraine evokes echoes of the first world war, with interviews of brave soldiers who have lost limbs in Russian minefields (‘Europe’s problem’, 21 October). He acknowledges that Ukraine’s losses have been huge, yet supports bullish calls for the war to continue ‘for years, or even decades’.

The big lesson we should take is that Ukraine’s offensive has been a dismal failure. Large quantities of western hardware lie burnt out on Ukraine’s steppes. The Russians are well dug in. They have many more troops than Ukraine, and Vladimir Putin is prepared to sacrifice them if need be. Without direct use of western forces, which would be a dangerous escalation, recovery of all Ukraine’s lost territory is no longer a realistic option.

Continuing support for this war is unlikely to be a winning formula for the candidates in the 2024 US elections, especially as America has other urgent calls for its assistance. Putin’s downfall would indeed be a war aim worth our support, were it not that his replacement would most likely be a Prigozhin type. Garton Ash exhorts us that ‘Europe needs to lead on economic, social and political support’. There is absolutely no reason to believe that Europe has the resources to make up for the billions of dollars in aid supplied by the United States to Ukraine, were it to be withdrawn. US aid to Ukraine since the start of the war is equivalent to over a third of the EU’s total annual budget.

The West needs to encourage Zelensky to accept Ukraine’s loss of territory and negotiate a speedy end to this brutal war.

Richard North

Hayling Island, Hampshire

Israel’s response

Sir: At no stage in Douglas Murray’s article (‘Glorying in slaughter’, 21 October) does he concede that some criticism of Israel’s collective punishments may be valid. This attitude is counterproductive. A textbook strategy for terrorists is to commit an outrage so horrific that it triggers a disproportionate retaliation, with atrocities that are even worse than the original outrage. This impels those in the middle ground towards supporting the ultimate goal of the terrorists. If Hamas has been following this gameplan, it has been triumphantly successful. Al Jazeera is now beaming the agonies of Gaza’s civilians to households all around the Middle East, as well as to its worldwide audience of more than a billion people. In a harbinger of the future, Israel has already lost the nascent friendship with Saudi Arabia. Israel is a small, demographically challenged nation, surrounded by enemies. If it is to survive in the long term, it will need friends other than just the United States.

John Hatt

Sedbergh, Cumbria

Perceptions of the EU

Sir: Your leading article, ‘European disunity’ (21 October), gets many things right – especially the rejection of lax immigration policies, technocratic overreach, and the increasingly diverse nature of the EU’s membership base. However, it underestimates the extent to which European populations, including voters of the far-right, remain committed to the membership of their countries in the EU, as well as the EU’s own ability to adapt and neutralise Europe’s far-right.

While the EU is changing, surveys show a substantial degree of stability in perceptions of it across the bloc in recent years, comparable to their levels before the financial crisis. They remain much more positive than during the trough observed around 2012-13. It is not just financial dependence on Brussels that keeps continentals in; it is also the recognition that their interests are better served by continuing to exercise their voice in what is fundamentally an intergovernmental body than by rushing for the exit.

Dalibor Rohac

Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute, Washington DC

A new start

Sir: I wish Lloyd Evans well on his road to recovery (‘No life’, 21 October). I hope he is not being prematurely smug. He is certainly patronising and possibly irresponsible in his disdain for AA.

I think of myself as a typical lifelong reader. I do not self-flagellate. I do not wallow. I am none of the things Mr Evans describes so disparagingly (ex-con, vandal, bodybuilder, etc). Nor was Steve, whom I met at AA. His last relapse killed him. Like many, he attended AA because he had nowhere else to go. Like everyone, he was there for a reason, not to give a performance. For him and for others, it was sadly not enough. However, for many, AA is a successful new start in lives which are being ruined. Many members never drink again. They rebuild. For them, meetings become their own community inside another which has often rejected them. Many attend for years and – believe it or not! – have fun and make friends.

It is too easy to look down on AA. However, society offers little else to those who, through alcohol dependency, frequently have almost nothing left. What they do have is the honesty to admit that it is the right time to stop drinking and the courage to do something about it. Not everyone is blessed enough to have a ‘Frank Skinner moment’: but those who have humility at least have a chance.

Keith Allen

London SW12

Magic Wanda

Sir: In his fine review of the new recording of Goldberg Variations by Vikingur Olafsson (Arts, 14 October), Damian Thompson writes that when Glenn Gould recorded his first version in 1956, the only competition was a recording by Claudio Arrau. He forgets the version which introduced the Goldbergs to many thousands of listeners and held sway from the mid-1930s – by Wanda Landowska.

Hugh Van Dusen

New York

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