DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Nato must not fold in face of Putin’s tyranny

It’s no exaggeration to say that decisions taken in Europe over the next few days will define world security for a generation. As Russian tanks roll in to Ukraine, will the Nato alliance stand or will it fold?

If it folds, Vladimir Putin’s audacious land grab will not stop at eastern Ukraine. Like all bullies, he will want more. Kiev would surely be his next target. Then how long before his predatory eye fell on the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania?

The president has clearly absorbed Lenin’s famous parable: Probe the enemy with your bayonet. If you find mush, you push. If you find steel, you withdraw.

Until yesterday the West’s response had been more mush than steel. Germany, hungry for Russian gas, had been scandalously muted in defending Ukraine.

Worse still, French President Emmanuel Macron, pathetically desperate to be seen as a global player, sucked up to Putin – who played him like a cheap violin.

While he was supposedly brokering a diplomatic deal between Moscow and Washington, the invasion began. It was nothing less than a ritual humiliation.

But yesterday, the wheel appeared to be turning. Boris Johnson – who has handled the crisis with aplomb – laid out tough new sanctions designed to freeze Russia out of the global finance system.

Germany, in a belated but welcome show of solidarity, put a block on Nord Stream 2 – the underwater pipeline due to carry Russian gas to Western Europe.

America has sanctions against 735 individuals and entities – including trade embargoes, travel bans and freezing of assets – and last night announced more. Even the hapless EU has come to the party and punished Russia.

Now the phony war is over and Ukraine’s sovereignty has been breached, the Western alliance is beginning to show some resolve – with instant effect.

Russian stocks, bond values and the rouble are tumbling. If Putin’s oil and gas exports are also restricted, the Russian economy will take a grievous hit.

If liberal democracy is to triumph over totalitarianism, the pressure must be kept up and, if necessary, intensified.

Only by standing together can the West show that tyranny will not prevail.

Football’s own goal

While the people of Ukraine brace themselves for Putin’s onslaught, it’s business as usual for the ethically bankrupt sport of football.

Never shy of taking dodgy cash, Uefa refuses to relocate its showcase Champions League final from St Petersburg.

But then their main sponsor is the Russian energy giant Gazprom.

Meanwhile, Manchester United – who play in the tournament tonight – are heavily funded by Russian national airline Aeroflot.

In the grasping world of football, the contest between money and morals only ever has one winner.

• Barely a day passes without fresh signs of Britain’s spectacular economic rejuvenation. Yesterday was no exception. After mammoth borrowing during Covid, the UK was back in the black in January. And with business starting to fire on all cylinders, and families spending, record tax revenue has flooded in. So wouldn’t it be an act of staggering economic ineptitude to raise national insurance? Don’t strangle the recovery, Boris… spike the hike!

• Frustrated by the BBC’s relentless metro-liberal, politically correct bias, viewers were already switching off. Now, it seems, star presenters are also voting with their feet. Jon Sopel and Emily Maitlis have defected to rival LBC, where diversity of views is a reality, not an empty slogan. It is further proof that the BBC’s relevance in our dynamic multi-media world is fading fast – and the licence fee model is obsolete.