Letters | 8 March 2018

Pipeline politics

Sir: In his article ‘Putin’s gamble’ (3 March), Paul Wood quite rightly mentions that one of the key reasons why Russia played hardball in Syria was Assad’s willingness to block the efforts of Qatar to build a natural gas pipeline through the country to supply Europe. This would have undermined Russia’s market power in Europe, and weakened Russian leverage over Europe when defending its actions in Ukraine. Some of the strategic issues at play in Syria exist in Libya, but to a lesser degree. Libya supplies Europe with gas from large offshore deposits through the GreenStream pipeline to Italy. Qatar tried for years to get Muammar Gaddafi to agree to its investment in Libya’s gas industry so it could undercut the Russian position in the European energy market. It failed and that explains why it poured money and weapons into some of the forces, notably different Islamic militias, which succeeded in overthrowing Gaddafi in 2011. This gas angle is one which few analysts of Russian strategy on Nato’s eastern and southern flanks seem aware of. When Russia intervened in Syria, it had good reasons for doing so.
Francis Ghilès

Barcelona

Non-alcoholic? Yes please

Sir: I disagreed in the main with Freddy Gray’s observations about non-alcoholic drinks (Spectator Life, 24 February). Without wishing to virtue-signal, upon giving up alcohol for Lent, I found an excellent and economical non-alcoholic beer called Bavaria Premium, which delivers the requisite salty-sweet ‘hit’. Additionally, I feel sympathy for the oft-maligned millennial. They quite understandably want a more grown-up drink than Coke or orange squash but their generation can’t afford to get drunk. Any unwise comments or actions can these days lead to social exclusion or even worse.
Di Newman

Faversham, Kent

Defence of Sunderland

Sir: I am a ‘disgusting, drooling, knuckle-dragging Neanderthal’ from Sunderland and, for once, agree with James Delingpole (‘Will Remainers ever learn to forgive?’, 24 February).