Sir, – Jerh O’Leary (Letters, October 7th), regarding the war in Ukraine, accuses the West of hypocrisy over its stance on the Russian invasion and lists some examples of western countries historically annexing territories.
What Jerh O’Leary ignores, however, is two things. First, the non-Western world has a record of aggression far exceeding that of the West. The ancient empires of Egypt, Assyria, Persia are a case in point, as are China and Mughal India. The Arabs in the eighth century launched a blitzkrieg from Arabia to Iran and as far west as Spain. Genghis Khan and Tamerlane conquered most of Asia and parts of Europe, including Russia, laying waste to millions. The Ottoman Turks conquered the Arab world and much of Europe, holding the Balkans in tyranny for centuries.
It is curious that these non-western imperialisms, and the rampant slave trades that usually accompanied them, have been almost completely forgotten in the 21st century.
Second, since 1945 there has been a general consensus among the nations of the world that the bad old days of smash and grab are over, consigned to the past. The world is supposed to be governed by international law and restraint. What Russia is doing is the first territorial aggression by a European state against another European state since 1945.
UCD and University of Galway students crowned winners of the Irish Times Debate
Q&A: How the new gambling regulator will affect Irish punters
‘My son is getting married in the summer, and the likelihood is that I’m going to be able to see that’
‘There is an undercurrent of racism from some people – you can feel it’
Finally, the United States did not “grab” Texas in 1836. Texans successfully waged a war of independence against a Mexican military dictatorship, a war which the US government had nothing to do with. In 1845, Texas, after applying for accession, was accepted by the United States as the 28th state of the Union. – Yours, etc,
Dr FRANK GILES,
Ballsbridge,
Dublin 4.
