Why I Care About Ukraine (And So Should You)

One week ago, Vladimir Putin finally gave the order for the Russian invasion of Ukraine that he’s been telegraphing for the better part of the last year. While I expected a certain level of general anti-war sentiment, the perceived indifference to what is going on in Ukraine has really been astonishing. For example, last week, J.D. Vance, a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, literally said, “I don’t really care what happens in Ukraine one way or another.” While this represents an extreme, and though the United States and the West have sanctioned Russia financially, they have shied away from the any of the major sanctions that would have the real ability to change Putin’s calculus. They have also categorically refused any active military assistance.

Those in favor of such a response have pointed to various reasons. For some, it’s because we are $30 trillion in debt and cannot afford it. Others say that American soldiers should not be put in harm’s way for people on the other side of the world. The risk of touching off a nuclear war is another. While these are all reasonable, respectable arguments and all sentiments that I have expressed at one point or another myself, I honestly think that they truly fail to meet the gravity of the moment.

Russia has attacked Ukraine simply because Ukraine would prefer to create deeper ties with the West rather than Russia after watching so many other former Soviet countries improve economically after doing so. We are witnessing something that has not been seen since mid-last century. We are not talking about radical terrorists blowing up buildings like in New York City on September 11, 2001. A nuclear-armed great power has launched a full-scale invasion of a sovereign nation in Europe for no reason other than geopolitical alignment.

Thus far in the conflict, armed with equipment from the West, the Ukrainians are putting up a valiant fight against a Russian army who doesn’t seem to be all that committed to Putin’s cause. However, the assault is far from over, and Putin has already begun to lift restrictions on his soldiers by expanding strikes beyond military targets into civilian population centers, including shelling and taking control of a nuclear power plant capable of creating a disaster ten times larger than the Chernobyl plant.

I don’t understand how people can be so dismissive of what is obviously a proxy conflict between the United States and Russia. The tanks are rolling and the missiles are flying in Ukraine, but make no mistake, the target of this attack is the world order built by the West in the wake of World War II that is led by the United States. We are watching the peace that the Greatest Generation fought so hard for evaporate overnight simply because our lives are comfortable, and we can’t be bothered. China, who is determined to take Taiwan, is watching every move we make and every move we do not.

I don’t believe that the West has fully considered the consequences of letting Ukraine fall to Russia. Yes, our national debt is out of control, as is inflation. We need to get our finances in order and quickly, but we don’t get to decide what challenges we face or when we will face them. Ukraine is under attack now. I’m not saying that American hasn’t fought pointless wars. It certainly has. Or that American soldiers should be deployed every time a tin-pot dictator threatens a humanitarian crisis. America should be far more judicious in the way that it uses military power.

Putin began the invasion of Ukraine by daring the West to interfere and insinuating a nuclear response if it did. In addition to arming Ukraine, the West is stating unequivocally that its red line is North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) territory. With the West already sanctioning Russia financially and arming the country that Putin is attacking, it is worth noting that I don’t think Putin is making the same distinctions over the types of involvement that the United States and its allies are making. If Putin is going to use nuclear weapons to prevent a loss in Ukraine, he is likely to do it regardless of whatever the West does. If the line is being drawn at NATO territory because it is believed that Putin will not go there, it should seriously reconsider.

I shouldn’t even have to say that I in no way want to go to war with Russia, nuclear or conventional. However, at some point, that calculated risk must be taken, and we must decide what is acceptable behavior among nations and what is not. The alternative is a world order where nuclear weapons create a license for tyrannical empire. I can’t think of a world more conducive to the proliferation of nuclear weapons than that one. We really must consider how the choices we make today will affect the world we live in tomorrow. Today, it’s Russia and Ukraine. Tomorrow, it could be China and Taiwan. The next day, who knows?