Sir, – It is a shame that Sabina Coyne Higgins (Letters, July 27th) cannot support international law in the conflict in Ukraine consistent with Article 29.3 (3) of the Irish Constitution.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a clear and brazen breach of international law and Ukraine has a right to defend itself consistent with Article 51 of the UN Charter.
The ceasefire narrative is a Russian ploy to equate their illegal aggression with a state’s right to defend itself under international law. It is designed to secure the situation on the ground as Russia has done in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria, Crimea and the Donbass in 2014. In all cases the “ceasefire” has led to permanent partition of the relevant sovereign state.
Our response to the invasion of Ukraine should be based on our Constitution and international law not the Russian narrative of conquest and partition. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL McLOUGHLIN,
Castleknock,
Dublin 15.
Sir, – Sabina Coyne Higgins tries too hard to make an internationalist point. She mentions the collaboration between English poet Clifford Bax and “the great German composer Gustav Holst”.
Holst was born in Cheltenham, in 1884, of English-born parents. He was a most deeply English composer. – Yours, etc,
DAVID BYRNE,
Dublin 6W.