I REFER to letters from P Young of Chepstow and S Mills of Ruardean on my comments on the BBC.

P Young appears to hold the British government responsible for the state of affairs in the Middle East and the resulting exodus of refugees to Europe.

S Mills, on the other hand, is complaining that the media flits from issue to issue without drawing any conclusion.

It is not clear how saving a few homeless refugee children from the Calais Jungle will save the millions languishing in camps in Jordan, Lebanon or Turkey or cure the structural problems of the Middle-East.

It is arrogant to think that Western European countries such as France and Germany are incapable of looking after the refugees who are already there and somehow Britain can do it better.

While I have no answers to the multitude of issues raised mostly outside the original question of BBC’s reporting standards, I would list my take on some of these.

Regarding role of Britain and the US in the breakup of the Middle East: historically the region has been a hot-bed of sectarian and ethnic conflict.

Religion and tribal divisions had kept the pot bubbling for the best part of the last two millennia.

One only has to view epic films such as Lawrence of Arabia to visualize what the situation was just 100 years back.

The nation-states in the region are all creations following two world wars and break up of empires.

Needless to say, colonial empires took advantage of the chaos to dominate and benefit politically and economically.

Oil was a powerful motive to meddle in the affairs of others all through the 20th century.

The Soviet/US ideological divide played its part all through the 20th century.

Military dictators were needed to keep the region under control. That is real-politics.

The problems of the region are many and it is unfit for democracy and individual freedoms as we understand in the West.

Yes, getting rid of dictators such as Saddam, and Gaddafi resulted in instability.

Getting rid of Assad would have resulted in a greater catastrophe.

Assad and the Russians are keeping the Isis dogs at bay. There is collateral damage and the civilians are hostage to their own people who have callously pursued an all-out war in their midst.

The British government or people are not responsible for the exodus of refugees from the Middle East or for the homeless children in the camps of Calais, Greece, or Italy.

Mass movement of refugees from the Middle East and Africa is already destabilizing Europe.

The main reason of the present situation is exploding population across the globe, coupled with speedy communications.

The media encourages broken societies to export their excess human burden and instability to other parts of the world.

Overseas aid and the army of NGOs have managed to encourage the population to multiply at regions on earth which previously were hostile to life.

Modern transport facilitates mass movement.

Britain has so far avoided the mistake that Frau Merkel made.

It would be a fundamental mistake to make promises or feed expectations that we will be unable to satisfy.

A fundamental question to ask is whether Britain or any others would be able to control and change the situation by intervention in the trouble spots.

In centuries past gun-boats and military expeditions did the trick. The world today is far more complex and well-intentioned words and occasional charity for a few will not solve the world’s problems.

– Venk Shenoi, Blaisdon.