MP COLUMN: Genocide is on the march again in Europe

More than a million women and children have fled the country while their menfolk take up arms against the invader. Genocide is on the march again in Europe.

The entire world order is being reshaped at speed. Putin thought his opponents couldn’t stop him. He was wrong. The West is getting its act together.

Fast action is isolating the Putin regime through sanctions while many countries are supplying Ukraine with arms to defend themselves.

This is a time for sober analysis. Those who argue that Putin’s actions were prompted by Nato are way off beam.

A few argue that the problem is that Nato, a defensive alliance, was extended to the Russian border. Labour opposes the so-called Stop the War coalition’s nonsense about Nato aggression.

Saying that Nato was extended obscures the fact that the people and governments of previous Soviet Republics such as Estonia decided to join Nato. They feared that Russia would deny their quest for self-determination. The invasion of Ukraine proves that this fear was very real.

The world is watching Ukraine’s heroic struggle with horror but also with generosity as people give donations to the Red Cross or even send provisions across Europe.

Putin must fail for their sake and for world peace and stability. But we have no beef with the Russian people.

Labour is offering constructive ideas to make Putin’s failure more likely. The billionaire oligarchs whose dirty money seeks to distort our politics should be on notice that we will not tolerate this any more. Above all, Ukraine must survive.