David Pratt's despair at the ineptitude of the West's politicians in their mishandling of the conflict in Syria is understandable (Russia v the West: the Cold War that's starting to turn hot, News, October 16). The hurrahs, applause and standing ovation for Hilary Benn as he presented himself as cheerleader-in-chief for the UK bombing of Syria seems a distant bad memory.

The apparent ineptitude of the USA and its British lapdog in their mishandling of the situation in that blighted country is so staggering that one has to wonder if there is an another agenda at work. War with Russia?

Unthinkable as that is to rational minds, it appears a credible scenario when one listens to the insane comments issuing from some politicians and military sources in the US, while we have UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson doing his best Billy Bunter impression tweaking the nose of big boy Putin in the playground, all the while hoping his pal the American Secretary of State will defend him

Now we know why Ruth Davidson is seen so often on her battle tank – she is obviously in the loop .

James Mills

Johnstone

I would like to comment on the letter from Jan Pietrasik (Look what the West has done, Letters, October 16). I suggest it shows naivety concerning the actions of Russia under the dominance of Vladimir Putin.

Russia played "The Great Game" as enthusiastically as Great Britain in Victorian times in Afghanistan, Persia and the Caspian Sea area, under Czarist rule. Under the Soviet Union, a large chunk of Finland's Karelia was grabbed and incorporated into the Soviet state, as were Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which since regained their freedom under Boris Yeltsin. East Prussia was stolen from Germany, "ethnically cleansed" and renamed as Kaliningrad Oblast. The Kuril Islands were never returned to Japan, after the Second World War. Chechnya's bid for independence was brutally stamped out under Putin.

Putin's regime is now back to grabbing back chunks of independent states on its periphery, like parts of Georgia and Crimea. Trouble is being fomented in eastern Ukraine and in the Trans-Dniestria area of Moldova.

Although "the West" has been involved in various unwise Middle Eastern adventures, bringing death and destruction in their wake (possibly in pursuit of oil security), there has been no attempt to steal the lands of other countries. The destruction wrought in Syria has been made worse by Russian involvement, not better.

My personal view is that we should never have embarked on the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Libya. Peace is a difficult course to pursue but that is what we should be doing. I trust that would be the policy of an independent Scotland, always with the proviso that we must be prepared to defend ourselves. We must (to paraphrase John Philpot Curran) remember that "the price of liberty is eternal vigilance".

Andrew McCrae

Gourock