There is a very familiar ring to Russia's actions on Ukraine

The attempt by the communists to take over Finland in the 1930s had been thwarted by the very strong Finnish president, Carl Mannerheim. But Russia wanted more land and more access to the Baltic Sea.

The invasion started at the south-east, on the Karelian Peninsula. The heavily outnumbered Finns fought a brave battle, and were helped by a very cold winter which, literally, froze the poorly equipped Russians to death.

Given its small size, in the end Finland was forced to sign a peace treaty and to give up the Karelian Peninsula to Russia just to survive.

Witness the similarity to Crimea in 2014, and the dilemma facing Ukraine now.

How do I know this? My maternal grandfather, Uudo Salmela, was a fighter at the front, known as the Mannerheim Line, where he died in December 1939, at the hands of the Russian aggressors.

He left a heartbroken wife and four little children. My mother was the youngest. She eventually made Canberra her home (and Surfers Paradise in winter).

Can I plead for peace, Mr Putin?

A Russian invasion and occupation of part of Ukraine could actually benefit Washington's strategic interests as long as the US was able to avoid direct military involvement.

Russia could justifiably be portrayed as the aggressor and threat to European security. It would disrupt the burgeoning Russia-Germany economic relationship, stress the small Russian economy, lead to a more cohesive NATO, justify increased US and NATO military expenditure, and boost America's international sales of arms and equipment.

What's more, it could be used to promote economic sanctions against Russia to increase Moscow's international isolation.

A Russian invasion would also help distract from President Biden's problems on the home front. It might even do the same for BoJo and ScoMo.

Repeated predictions by Western leaders of an "imminent" Russian invasion of Ukraine are starting to ring false. This has always been a difficult part of the world in which to fight a war.

Your best options are either high summer (which is many months away) or in the middle of winter, when the frozen ground can bear the weight of heavy military equipment and large numbers of tanks can take advantage of the level terrain to advance across a wide front.

While as I write this it is just above freezing in the east of Ukraine near where the Russian troops have been deployed, spring is coming. By late March the thaw will be well under way, and tracked vehicles would quickly churn the ground into an impassable morass.

Putin knows his history. He is not about to repeat the mistakes of Napoleon and Hitler.

Events may prove me wrong but the longer he holds off the more I suspect he is bluffing.

Your editorial "Join the fight for regional newspapers" (canberratimes.com.au, February 14) is spot on in two important respects, but I would go further.

First, I couldn't start the day without the comforting ritual of picking up The Canberra Times, battling the wrapping, and then sitting down at the kitchen table, pen in hand, and a cup of tea in the other. Highly recommended.

Secondly, if we are to foster a vibrant democracy we must have a diversity of opinion, viewpoints, high-quality and accurate journalism, penetrating investigation work, and, importantly, ownership. This is true in both metropolitan and regional areas. If additional measures are required to pursue or secure these objectives, all reasonable people should lend their support.

Democracy is fragile, and is fraying at the edges. It is not coincidental that we just witnessed a weekend of large crowds demonstrating their ignorance of science, public health, structures of government and adherence to irrational beliefs and conspiracy theories.

Clearly, many feel disenfranchised and powerless. Quality daily electronic and print media is essential to metropolitan and regional Australia. It is as essential as "our ABC", particularly in regional Australia.

Media ownership in Australia is amongst the most concentrated in the world, and this is the result of crucial decisions made by both major parties over time. The great media monoliths must be broken up (as well as immediate assistance to sustain the status quo where it is threatened).

It is imperative we make changes in media regulation to ensure there is real competition in ideas as to how we perfect our democracy, engage all the people in the process, and ensure we are equipped to be fair, efficient, sustainable, thoughtful and humane.

The Times Past segment on page 2 of The Canberra Times of February 11 reported Paul Keating's intention to send judges and magistrates back to school after a South Australian judge said it was OK for a husband to beat up his wife to force her to have sex with him.

On page 7 of the same edition was a report that Jaysen Newby's defence counsel said Newby "did the right thing by pleading guilty (to murdering his ex's lover) when there might have been an argument that his former partner had provoked the killing by dating other people when the murderer had told her not to".

It seems the sort of training Paul was advocating didn't make it into mainstream legal training.

At first I thought it must be advertising for a rerun of The Benny Hill Show ("Greens should pay back profit: Liberals", canberratimes.com.au, February 10).

But then I realised it's just Jeremy Hanson back again, sulking and shooting himself in the foot as only he can .

Did he not realise that all he did was underline how the Liberals spent heavily for a poor result - whereas, with strong, engaged membership and good policies, the Greens were able achieve a great result with only modest expenditure?

Of course, given that the ACT Liberals don't have an office of their own and appear to be run out of a cubby house in a tree in Mr Hanson's backyard, he at least cannot be accused of hypocrisy.

I recently had the unfortunate experience of ringing Access Canberra to seek advice for a refugee family that I am assisting; the information I needed was not available on the agency's website, despite an extensive search.

After 15 minutes, a recorded voice told me I was 24th in the queue. After another 45 minutes, the same electronic voice said: "You are first in the queue." Yeah. But immediately the advice was followed by: "We are experiencing a system problem and are unable to take your call. Please call again later."

Now many organisations, both private and public, have notices or messages reminding clients to show courtesy and respect. Well, as a customer I believe that I should also be shown courtesy and respect and to me that means answering my enquiry within a reasonable time.

Access Canberra wasted an hour of my life, the Department of Home Affairs usually wastes much more and Qantas Frequent Flyer many hours if you ever get through. These are but a few examples.

Service is now foreign to (generally) big business, Commonwealth departments and the arrogant ACT government. So, yes, let's have courtesy and respect, but remember it is a two-way obligation.

As the Parliament tied itself in knots over the bigotry-enabling Religious Discrimination Bill, I found it hypocritical that so many "Christian" organisations supporting the bill rely on the nastier parts of the Old Testament for the ethos that they wish to use to sustain an un-Christian level of intolerance and discrimination.

I agree with your editorial that it was a waste of time to have a debate on the religious discrimination bill ("Religious discrimination bill an unnecessary distraction", canberratimes.com.au, February 11).

All children should be able to study where they wish to study, if intellectually eligible.

Someone's sexuality or religion should not limit this. Educational institutions should simply be equipped to live up to society's expectations.

Scott Morrison was ill-advised to bring in this legislation when we are facing a global pandemic, economic downturn, and increasing cost of living.

Is it just me or are there others who cringe at the number of times the word February is mispronounced, especially by media? A major culprit is the SBS World News presenter who manages to swallow a four syllable word, Feb-ru-ar-y into two: Feb-ry. There are others. It is so irritating to have to repeatedly listen to this.

Recent reports have quoted the protesters as saying there were 1 million of them. Sorry, that's almost twice the number of the locals we call "Ken Behrens".

Electoral interference can take many forms, not just foreign. Is ASIO boss Mike Burgess positioning himself to be Australia's James Comey?

Sorry Mario Stivala (Letters, February 14), but the LNP government is doing a fine job lurching from one crisis to the next, which may result in its downfall. It's nothing to do with the ABC, which simply holds those in power to account - and has done so for 90 years.

Ukraine obviously doesn't want to join Russia's Commonwealth of Independent States. Even if it does eventually agree not to join NATO in order to avoid being invaded, is there any reason why it shouldn't be able to join the European Union, rather than be left dangling in splendid isolation?

Michael McCarthy, Deakin

Australia is the lucky country indeed. We have a Prime Minister who keeps on giving. He gives the blame to everyone else, including his wife.

So Japan "saved" Australia by not invading in World War II (Letters, February 15) just as Germany "saved" Britain by not doing so in that same war. What sort of future a "saved" Australia would have had in a "Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere" is anyone's guess.

Come election time, politicians' families are trotted out and expected to smile as though they are enjoying the experience. This time we had a different approach. With the camera running, the family had to listen to the politician playing a ukulele. It reminded me of Nero and his fiddle.

On St Valentine's Day, leaked anonymous messages of undying devotion are supposed to abound. I wonder, did the hope that springs eternal have the PM watching for the postie?

S. W. Davey questions the assertion, attributed to the Prime Minister, that "people came here from all around the world to escape religious persecution" (Letters, February 10). I suspect some of the refugees still languishing in detention centres here and on Nauru, and having formerly done so on Manus Island, could be in that category.