Letters to the editor: Stopping Putin; standing with Ukraine; and more

Putin’s reign has to be ended

Vladimir Putin’s approval rating in Russia is about 70%. This will certainly decline as Russian soldiers start returning home in body bags, but Putin will deal with this just as he has in Chechnya where he wantonly levels cities when there is any resistance. The Russian people will continue to support Putin as long as he is “winning” and, as reported in the last few days, he controls virtually all information in Russia, so their perception of his conduct is whatever he tells them it is.

Putin’s reign must be terminated. This will only happen only when the Russian people realize that they, each and every citizen, has become a pariah everywhere in the world because of their support for their 21st century Lenin. That will happen only when the rest of the world: sends all Russian passport holders home; denies worldwide port access to all Russian and allied shipping; denies Russian air traffic access to airports and airspace; suspends sale or lease to or for Russia of all products, food and drugs; and boycotts all Russian goods and commodities, including energy.

Notwithstanding a global thermonuclear war, we are stuck with President Trump’s comrade until such time as the Russian populace realizes what a despot they have created. Only they, not the oligarchs, can remove Putin and the sooner freedom loving countries make the lives of the rank-and-file Russian as miserable as possible, the sooner they, hopefully, will take action to reclaim their position as citizens of the world.

Bob Merrilees, Camarillo

Ukrainians deserve to be free

Ukrainians have repeatedly been brutalized by others. Stalin forced them to give up their land, called them kulaks, deported them to Gulags and collective farms, subjected them to forced labor, took their grain to feed Russia’s industrializing cities and starved them to death. Hitler invaded and killed them in his effort to create lebensraum. Now, Putin, the former Soviet KGB officer, invades and kills them in trying to recreate the Russian/Soviet empire.

No country and no people deserve this. The Ukrainians also deserve peace and freedom. Making this happen without force, more violence and world war requires everyone to speak up. That includes not just us and the rest of the free world, but the Chinese government, the Patriarch of Moscow, and the Russian oligarchs and people. The world as a whole needs to stand with Ukraine.

Mark Hancock, Ventura

Grab a gun, go help Ukraine

Given the national rise in the numbers of civilian militias in the United States, I have a suggestion for all the wannabe soldiers just itching to take on a government. How about you all just get your guns and go to Ukraine to help stop a real dictator’s aggression instead of following a wannabe dictator in the form of Trump?

Gary Sparks, Camarillo

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Letters: Stopping Putin; standing with Ukraine; and more