Failed EU policy turns Greece to Russia

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/05/failed-eu-policy-turns-greece-to-russia-ukraine

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Natalie Nougayrède criticises Greek premier Alexis Tsipras for his approach to Russia on account of Moscow’s undemocratic and domineering domestic and foreign policies (Opinion, 3 April). She condemns Vladimir Putin for his actions towards Ukraine, yet she overlooks the fact that the European leadership, with Germany at the front, has managed to ruin the economy of a fellow member of the EU and reduce its population to beggary without a shot being fired, without a single soldier crossing the border.

She condemns Russia’s democratic deficit, yet she overlooks the fact that Greece elected a new government, pledged to root out corruption and to sort out taxation and to try to get the country back on to its feet. The EU demands Greece carry on implementing the discredited austerity programme that has not only led to mass destitution, but makes recovery all the more difficult to achieve. This is the cruelly undemocratic reality of the “European project”. In view of this, it is not surprising that Greece looks to somewhere else, another country which, for whatever reason, might offer some help. Dr Paul FlewersLondon

• The only policy point Timothy Garton Ash presses on us or his young idols in Kiev (Opinion, 4 April) appears to be the use of war to bring about the birth of a nation. The imposition of (widely evaded and unpopular) conscription and martial law, not to mention the miners’ strike in the west, consorts ill with his assertion that this war is popular in west and central Ukraine. Full – indeed any – inclusion of ethnic Russians is nowhere on his agenda, though his ascription of malign motives to Putin is de rigueur for the Guardian, as for the rest of Nato’s mainstream media.Ben CosinDeal, Kent