MAIL ON SUNDAY COMMENT: For once, we have to stand up to Putin

By MAIL ON SUNDAY COMMENT

Published: | Updated:

The horror and grief of the Ukraine tragedy have persuaded a distracted world to focus once again on this tortured corner of Europe.

For some months now an intense and vicious war has been dragging unspectacularly on, a war in which the Ukrainians have been achieving some success against Russian separatists.

There is no doubt that those separatists have been helped, advised and equipped by Moscow.

Responsibility: There is little doubt that this arm¿s length, shadowy policy blew up in Vladimir Putin¿s face on Thursday

Responsibility: There is little doubt that this arm’s length, shadowy policy blew up in Vladimir Putin’s face on Thursday

And there is little doubt that this arm’s length, shadowy policy blew up in Vladimir Putin’s face on Thursday.

Russian-backed individuals, acting in Russia’s interest and with Moscow’s encouragement, are the prime suspects in a mass murder.

It is always wise to be cool after such emotive tragedies, and to wait for facts before reaching firm conclusions.

The site of the outrage is a war zone and there are special difficulties in gathering evidence in such places. But a great mass of circumstantial evidence already points towards the Kremlin.

How should civilised states respond? Our brand-new Defence Secretary, the refreshingly blunt Michael Fallon, has essentially accused President Putin of sponsoring terrorism.

   

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Such powerful language places this country firmly alongside those who desire an unmistakably tough response to this atrocity.

By contrast, the response of the EU and of President Obama to Russia’s recent misdeeds in Ukraine has been extraordinarily weak and divided. France and Germany remain keen to do business with Moscow, and Mr Obama seems to have lost all stomach for intervention.

Western inaction has come at a high cost. Action is now called for. And there must be a position between Mr Fallon’s passion and the White House’s passive quietism. And if we are to bring this savage war to an end before it ruins many more lives, the major powers of Nato are going to have to find such a position.

They need to tell Moscow that enough is enough, in language even Mr Putin can understand, and they must make it clear that not only do they carry a big stick but that they are ready to use it.

 

One law - for all of us 

Critcisim: Solicitor General Robert Buckland

Critcisim: Solicitor General Robert Buckland

The whole point of the law in a civilised country is that nobody is above it. It is especially important that those who enforce it also obey it without question.

A public, ritual obeisance is not enough. They must believe in it and impose it on themselves even when nobody is looking.

The same goes for professional rules, especially those which apply to Ministers, police officers and lawyers.

So how can Robert Buckland, the new Solicitor-General, have thought he could keep quiet about a finding by the barristers’ disciplinary body that he had engaged in conduct ‘likely to diminish confidence in the legal profession or the administration of justice or otherwise bringing the legal profession into disrepute’.

There may be some jobs where full disclosure of the applicant’s past would not be strictly necessary. But appointment as one of the two Law Officers of the Crown, advising the Government on law, and sometimes deputising as Attorney General, superintending the whole prosecution service, is certainly not one of them.

His behaviour, once again, is likely to diminish confidence – not just in the legal profession, but also confidence in him and the Government he serves.

 

 

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