In his letter he was quoting that some obscure item from circa 1646 had more meaning than a Pope cartoon.

The Pope cartoons are brilliant and succinct. A cartoonist's aim is to point out the hypocrisy, lies, foolishness, double-speak etc of their target and this often upsets some readers.

Any person with interest in the current position of Australian politics or world affairs can see the truth and humour of a Pope cartoon, or the work of our other great Australian cartoonists.

However, one has to look carefully at each element of the cartoon.

Maybe you correspondent should broaden his reading and TV watching so that he will be able to appreciate Pope's work?

I won't here comment directly on the events in eastern Ukraine and for that matter the Ukraine itself, but instead I will try to illustrate how complex and long is the history of the Tsarist Empire thence the Soviet Union (USSR) by looking at Crimea.

When Catherine II annexed Crimea (and parts of Ukraine) in 1803 the population were Tartars. The Russians systematically expelled the Tartars.

By 1939 the population was 23.1 per cent Tartars, 43.5 per cent Russian, 10 per cent Ukrainian, 7.4 per cent Jews, 5.7 per cent German and 10.3 per cent others.

In 1941 the German-Rumanian armies occupied the Crimea and the Nazi death squads slaughtered the Jews en masse.

Crimea was re-occupied by the Soviets in 1944 and the Tartar population were deported to Siberia as they were seen by Stalin as being collaborators of the Nazis.

In 1954 the Soviet leadership transferred Crimea from Russia to Ukraine saying it was marking the 300th anniversary of Ukraine's union with Russia. In fact it was a political move by Moscow.

You don't have to be a mathematician to realise with the Jews and Tartars gone Crimea really stayed Russian.

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So, according to Scott Morrison, Australia will always stand up to bullies ... really?

China not only subjugates their own people, commits atrocities based on religious belief or race, expands its military might threateningly, but also declared a trade war on Australia by banning our exports.

Our commercial businesses are flooded with "made in China" brands on them. Everything from electronics, cars, toys, housewares and the list goes on.

The floodgates are wide open to China with no consequences for their bullying and human rights abuse.

Our government has gone belly up in the face of China, but so has the ordinary Australian citizen by supporting China by buying "made in China" goods.

As usual, no matter what bullying or atrocious act China commits, China just goes on its merry way knowing that no one will stop them.

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