Ukraine: How Should The U.S. Act

A revolution took place in the country of Ukraine in February of 2014. This came after a series of violent and deadly events that rocked the Ukrainian Capital, Kiev. The then-President Victor Yanukovych was ousted due to years of corruption, mismanagement and by the lack of economical growth that had gripped the Ukrainian government. To try and stimulate the economy, Yanukovych looked to both the European Union and Russia to closer associate Ukraine with these powers and gain funding.

However, when Yanukovych decided to sign the Russian plan instead of the EU plan, this sparked civil unrest in Kiev that would lead to deadly encounters between police and protesters. This would lead to the removal of the then-president and the beginning of the new government that is in power currently.
These actions taken by the protesters have also sent the country spiraling out of control and have set up an international crisis.

With the Crimean Ballot being cast and voting to succeed from Ukraine and to join Russia, the United States has been put in tough situations. In the region of Donetsk, the same unrest is gripping at the throat of the region, just as it did in Crimean. Separatists have taken over much of the region of Donetsk and are supporting a ballot to leave Ukraine and to join Russia.

Much of Western Europe and the United States have stated that they do not recognize these ballots and say that they are criminally illegal.

Yet, I believe we are doing all that we should in Ukraine. Any more involvement in the area could lead to a war between two countries that could end the world. As it stands, the United States and Russia have enough nukes between them to end the world many times over.

The sanctions that we have placed on Russia are starting to take their affect and, if need be, we should strengthen these. However, I firmly believe that there should be no U.S involvement of armed forces in the area. We should continue to decry the actions of Russian involvement and continue to support the Ukrainian government, but no direct U.S involvement.

If the United States does get involved with troops, this will pave the road for Russian involvement and give them the pretext to send in troops of their own. At this point, over 40,000 Russian troops are poised at the Ukrainian-Russian border. This shows just how serious the situation is, and any action taken by the United States needs to be well thought out, and help stabilize the situation.

If any of the regions want to leave the Ukrainian country, the people of that region have a right, yet it needs to be done in a fair and democratic way. There should not be armed forces surrounding the polling stations, as there were in Crimea and now in Donetsk. People should not in any way be afraid to vote the way they feel, and should not be intimidated by voting if their opinion goes against the majority.

Before there can be any stabilization of the country, Russian troops need to back down, and separatists that have taken over buildings need to turn in their weapons and return the government buildings to the government. At that point, there can be talks about what should be done next and if need be, voting in a fair and equal way, where intimidation is not used.