Your leader (“Putin walks a dark and twisted path”, 30 August) is timely. However, it is also fair to observe that after the welcome fall of the Communist empire a protocol existed forbidding the encroachment of the West. What has happened since is that Poland and other former Warsaw Pact countries have joined Nato, and Ukraine and others are looking increasingly towards the European Union. Is it any wonder that Russia, always a volatile entity, is alarmed? How would we feel if Irel