Letters to the Editor: Biden’s warmongering comments concerning

Children and their companions from an orphanage in Odesa, Ukraine, wait for room allocation after their arrival at a hotel in Berlin, Friday, March 4, 2022. More than 100 Jewish refugee children who were evacuated from a foster care home in war-torn Ukraine and made their way across Europe by bus have arrived in Berlin.Picture: AP

The concluding warmongering bits of Joe Biden’s State of the Union address this week must be challenged. He said that Putin’s war has been “totally unprovoked”. This is not true. While Putin’s brutal invasion is certainly unjustified, it can be argued to be the result of 30 years of failed diplomacy and goading by Nato.

He also said that Putin “rejected repeated efforts at diplomacy”. This is unclear, if not totally untrue. The problem rests as much in western governments’ inability to recognise Russia’s genuine security interests as it does with Putin’s irredentist ambitions. It is clear that some western leaders want a war with Putin.