IN the Sunday National, Andrew Tickell references David Hume’s “concentric circles of our empathy”, explained by how we fully empathise with those closest to us, not so much with distant peoples or cultures who currently and in the past have suffered the ravages and horrors of conflicts (Digitalisation of war opens our eyes and helps to reaffirm our humanity, Feb 27). This is presciently highlighted by the Bulgarian president’s recent remarks in relation to Ukrainian refugees “These people are not refugees we are used to … these are Europeans.”

There are at least three dozen conflicts raging in the world currently, and all are killing and maiming people by the millions, many fuelled by British weapons. These wars are categorised from minor to major, the latter identified as causing more than 10,000 direct conflict deaths. These wars are taking place across the Middle East, Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Darfur, Congo, Nigeria, Syria and Yemen.

Then there are the amorphous wars which are difficult to class, such as the war on terror or the war on drugs, but which nevertheless cause hundreds of thousands of deaths. In Mexico, for example, 50,000 people died in 2020 alone – but this particular drugs war categorises the dead as being murdered.

The millions and millions of people who have sought peace as refugees or asylum seekers from the wars mentioned are obviously categorised by race or/and culture and receive support, or not, depending on their point of origin. There really is no point in governments denying this and yet they do, constantly. I am not for a minute suggesting that Ukrainian refugees are less deserving than those countless others from across the world, merely that all those seeking help are treated the same.

Alan Hind

Old Kilpatrick

LET’S film the Ukraine citizens fleeing their worn-torn country being led onto the oligarchs’ super yachts and bedded down.

Ken McCartney

Hawick

THE ultimate irony about capitalism is that it sold itself to Russian oligarchs! Sold to the highest bidder! And yet some Scots still want to be ruled from Londongrad!

WJ Graham

East Kilbride

WAR is not the answer. Russia had no right to invade Ukraine. No country should invade another country’s borders.

But if it wasn’t so tragic it would be laughable that the USA and UK have the nerve to claim superior ethics. Both the UK and USA abandoned Afghanistan when the Taliban arrived. Citizens who worked with the UK/USA were promised residence, but they’re still waiting, while the Taliban are in charge, causing extreme misery and hunger. The good old USA has invaded countries across the globe to either steal their resources or to replace elected governments with their preferred notion of democracy.

Tony Blair lied to the UK when he claimed Iraq had “weapons of mass destruction” and made a fortune in the process. The irony is that both USA and UK have weapons of mass destruction. But that’s alright apparently. Nearly 20 years since the invasion, and Iraq is still suffering. Young men who didn’t come back in a body bag were too traumatised to function. 110,600 Iraqis were killed!

What I’d like to know is why it is acceptable for the West to dictate and invade? We have a mainstream media that does not give a balanced account of what’s happening, but instead churns out propaganda.

I’d like to see a broader look at the real facts and not the “West best” propaganda. We all share this planet. Let’s try to live and let live.

Isobel Cooney

via email

AS I hear the dire news every day, I cannot help feeling that my life has come full circle. I was born to the terrifying sound of the “moaning Minnie” air raid warning, and throughout my early years regularly heard Spitfires taking off over our house to chase a German plane out over the sea before shooting it down. Now, small children such as I was then are living with exactly the same horrors.

What have we learned over these 80 years and how have we made the world a safer, better place? We have given ourselves the chance of lifestyles our parents could never have dreamed of, and used more and more of the planet’s resources to keep that process going. Unfortunately, it looks as if we are going to leave behind a world no different from where we began, and perhaps even worse.

We are all culpable. As long as it did not disrupt our own lives, we have still allowed the egotistical, power-hungry, amoral worshippers of wealth to reach the pinnacles of control, to the point where we can no longer control them. Some then destroy through sheer stupidity, others through unadulterated cunning. Do we really ever learn from history?

L McGregor

Falkirk

WITH the despicable assault on Ukraine continuing, I remember, as a young man with tears in my eyes, being restrained from travelling to Hungary in 1956 as the Russian tanks blasted their way into Budapest.

More than a decade later in 1968, the same happened in Prague. However, in the late 1980s, the Russian Soviet Empire began to disintegrate and by the 1990s democratic freedoms returned.

Therefore, as the madness of one man explodes over Ukraine, we must never give up hope in the ultimate goodness of mankind.

As we salute the courage of Ukraine, let us support its people in every way possible, remembering there is more good in the world than evil and that hate is always the loser.

Grant Frazer

Newtonmore