This letter to the FT about how money trumped Putin’s warning signs is a grim, essential read
This letter to the Financial Times went wildly viral today because it’s a fascinating (and unutterably grim) insight into how we got where we are today.
It’s from Carl Scott, former UK defence attaché at the Moscow embassy, and it was shared on Twitter by the BBC’s estimable technology correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones.
Extraordinary letter in @ft from former UK defence attaché at Moscow embassy – we warned you about Putin but you listened to the City instead pic.twitter.com/E4UPTu98yl
— Rory Cellan-Jones (@ruskin147) March 23, 2022
Here it is in full.
And here are just a few of the many things people were saying about it today.
‘Extraordinary’ barely covers it. This is a historical document, a primary source, an epitaph to surrendered values. https://t.co/tRLoQDG77p
— James Oh Brien (@mrjamesob) March 23, 2022
‘It was not until I returned to the UK, on the eve of our withdrawal from the EU, a manoeuvre that greatly emboldened those in Moscow, that I understood how our society had changed in the years I was serving overseas.’ – UK Defence Attaché, Moscow 2016 https://t.co/uCNgLjfXne
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) March 23, 2022
"the values we demanded from other nations has long since faded from our own actions" https://t.co/pVB0FLtGBH
— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) March 23, 2022
Extraordinary indictment of the City: Putin's path to dictatorship, fascism and war was long seen coming by UK diplomats, but London preferred to gorge itself on money stolen from the Russian people by corrupt oligarchs. https://t.co/8zixLLjuww
— Euan MacDonald (@Euan_MacDonald) March 23, 2022
Well, this is depressing https://t.co/54eD2kbAP3
— Armando Iannucci (@Aiannucci) March 23, 2022
Wow. Brutal critique.
"I despair at the decisions Putin has taken, but even more at the prospect of finding credible leadership at home in the UK among those who have compromised so long with his regime and the wealth it offered."
Air Commodore Carl Scott (retired) https://t.co/lVITxaJ18x— Robert Llewellyn (@bobbyllew) March 23, 2022
To conclude.
Read every word of this. https://t.co/62dmhknBmz
— Malcolm V Tucker 🏴☠️🇺🇦 (@Tucker5law) March 23, 2022
In three letters.
👇Sob. https://t.co/u6K4zSZRlU
— Hugh Grant (@HackedOffHugh) March 23, 2022
And you can see this letter (and many more) on the FT’s letters to the editor page over here.
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Source Twitter @ruskin147 Financial Times
