I COULDN’T agree more with John Edgar that, regarding the nerve agent attack, the “headlong rush to condemn without corroboration is dangerous to say the least” (Letters, The National, March 14).

What we have here is a cynical self-fulfilling prophecy. The Government (and by extension the MSM) wants the Russians to be responsible so therefore they are. No proof is needed. The rush to judgement, the reversal of the burden of proof and the threatening ultimatum confirm this. The UK’s Nato allies – complicit in the US’s belligerence towards Russia – have given their “support”.

Let me remind the anti-Russian frothers – there is no proof of their culpability. None. But this has not stopped the flame of “outrage” being fanned by the MSM. And I’m heartily sorry to see our FM join in by tweeting “Russia simply cannot be allowed to launch attacks on our streets with impunity”. I have the utmost respect for Nicola Sturgeon – she is a world-class politician and Scotland is lucky to have her – but with this statement she lowers herself to the level of the knee-jerk, finger-pointing herd.

By the way, Sarin was developed in Germany – does this mean that the Germans are responsible for any Sarin attack?

Surely the question to ask is what would the Russians gain by this act – especially in the run-up to the World Cup? Nothing – except further opprobrium and sanctions. So if not the Russians, who? Well, others also have access to this nerve agent – including Ukraine and Israel – both of whom have a motive for wanting Russia pilloried.

But the Government is single-minded in its evidence-free accusations and is ignoring the requests of the Russian government to follow the route demanded by international protocols. The Russian ambassador Alexander Shulgin is his country’s representative on the OPCW (the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons), has asked for a sample – only to be ignored. He said “one must use facts and nothing but the facts. Stop fomenting hysteria, go ahead and officially formalise your request to begin consultations with us in order to clarify the situation”. He also said there is a “dirty information war being waged against Russia”. And when one looks at the hysterical evidence-free accusations over the last few days it’s hard to disagree.

It’s depressing and quite frankly terrifying to find our government and the media of this country behaving like infants with their fingers in their ears, chanting “I’m not listening. Russia did it. Russia did it.”
Frank Rodgers
Glasgow

FOUR letters to The National spiritedly repudiate the media hysteria about the events in Salisbury concerning nerve gas (Letters, March 15). One particularly points to the SNP unnecessarily inserting itself into international disputes, such as the present one.

Amid the furore about who committed the reported poisoning, the mainstream media omits to mention the proximity of this cathedral city to the Ministry of Defence chemical warfare establishment at Porton Down. Such proximity surely invites attention.

As has been pointed out, had the Russians been desirous of killing Sergei Skripal and are as callous as is asserted, it would have been much easier for them to have done so when he was in prison in Russia and not to have carried out an assassination in another country with all the attendant international furore. Though even such speculation does not necessarily absolve them from possible guilt. Likewise neither are the UK secret services absolved in what is a murky scenario that will likely join the list of sinister mysteries of this kind.
Ian Johnstone
Peterhead