Dear Editor,

The British Broadcasting Corporation ( BBC) is reporting that, so far, 22 and counting Russian diplomats have been expelled by their hosts. These countries are mainly members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – following Britain’s lead sometime ago.

Of course, all of these countries are convinced that the Russian Federation is responsible for the poisoning of that ex-Russian agent in Britain by using a war-grade chemical agent. By allegedly using this war-grade chemical, Russia is accused of taking military action on British (and by extension NATO) soil.

In all of these actions, the Russians have been demanding evidence from the British — to no effect. Without any evidence that the Russian State is involved, some would argue that the Russians may in fact be right when it claims that these expulsions are nothing more than a continuation of the well-entrenched Russophobia that has gripped the West, especially since Vladimir Putin took control of Russia.

Interestingly, the United States expelled 60 Russian diplomats, in a sign of solidarity with the British. According to the Americans, the supposed Russian meddling in the last American elections was the last straw. However, it really does seem very odd that the United States, perhaps more than any other country, should be squealing about the Russians meddling in its internal affairs. After all, when it comes to meddling in the internal affairs of other countries, America is really second to none.

It also seems odd that while the West continues to do all it can to isolate Russia, it desperately needs Russia’s help in other international matters – most notably North Korea, Syria and the Ukraine. Who knows, this British-Russian spat might very well play into the hands of North Korea. What do two isolated countries, Russia and North Korea, do to end their isolation? They come together, of course. Russia needs the rare-earth minerals that North Korea is very rich in for its computers and so forth, and North Korea needs the fuel that Russia is very rich in for its missiles and so forth.

Anyway, while it appears that Britain has enough evidence that the chemicals used on that attack in Britain was from Russia, it seems, to the Russians at least, that the British don’t have the evidence to prove that it was ordered by the Russian State. If it did, I think that the British would have, by now, shown this State-sponsored attack to the whole world. It’s little wonder, therefore, that the Russians think that the West is just using this incident as a means to drum up anti-Russian sentiment around the world.

You know, many Russians remember when the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, was seen as some sort of hero in the West, at the same time weakening the Soviet Union to the point of disintegration. The former Russian leader, Boris Yeltsin, was also seen as some sort of western saint, while ruling a weak Russia. Now that Putin has put Russia back on the world stage as a global military power, one that can no longer be pushed around, Russia is seen by the West, at least as far as the Russians can see, as some sort of villain. No wonder many Russians see Putin as a hero and extreme western Russophobia as a fact.

Michael A Dingwall

michael_a_dingwall@hotmail.com