Dear Editor,
In his letter (Letters, The Guardian, 27th Jan 2021, link below) Mike Morrogh draws historical parallels between Ukraine and the forming of Northern Ireland in 1920.
I cannot judge whether that is a valid point but another comparison we should urgently be drawing is that the US and Germany both seem to be pushing for a conflict which is only a few hundred kilometres from Volgograd, previously Stalingrad. And Volgograd is, in turn, only another small step from the Caspian Sea with its oil-reserves.
A 94 year-old friend here in Cologne, whose husband was an officer with the Wehrmacht at Stalingrad, recounts that the big frustration that German forces there had, was that the Russians had removed small but key components from all the oil drilling/processing equipment.
So maybe, as NATO insists on pushing eastwards, Putin is intent on not having to get his spanners out a second time.
Regards
