His defence of Russia in this matter and his throwaway final paragraph are wrong, wrong, wrong in so many ways.

Even worse is his distortion of history and ignoring relevant facts pertaining to incidents mentioned in his letter.

He mentions the US shooting down the Iranian Airliner over Iranian Air Space in 1988, but neglects to mention the incident was in the middle of a highly active embargoed area, The Straits of Hormuz, one of the world’s most heavily trafficked maritime passages.

Only three months before this passage had been the scene of an active firefight between US and Iranian Naval forces after the mining of the USS Samuel B. Roberts, which resulted in the loss of over half a dozen Iranian naval vessels.

One would expect there to be some tension in the air and area and fingers to be close to triggers considering the short distances and reaction times involved.

The incident was acknowledged, apologies given and reparations made a long time ago.

How the circumstances of this occurrence in a crowded area can be likened to a lone airliner travelling at 10,000 metres alone in a clear sky beggars belief.

Nowhere in this deplorable missive does Alan mention that Russia has history in this area also; remember JAL007 in 1978?

Russia for weeks claimed it was a spy plane; 260 passengers and crew died from that supposition.

Where was the immediate apology then?

I don’t believe that any fair-minded individual would not acknowledge Russia’s strengthening of its borders by supporting Ukraine’s separatists with weapons and or personnel/advisers was not the cause of this tragedy.

In conclusion, it would appear that the incredible coverage given to this incident, definitely over the top in my opinion, reflects the power and abuse of social media in our society.

— TONY CLARKE,

Lavington