Just a month ago, on February 24 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine creating the largest war since World War II. The invasion resulted in the largest refugee crisis in decades and over 3.4 million Ukrainians left the country to immigrate to Europe, Canada, Israel, the United States, etc. Some, including myself, thought that Putin would give up after a week or so but that is not the case. It seems that there is no light at the end of the tunnel as the war just keeps worsening everday. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 902 civilians have been killed and another 1,459 have been wounded so far in the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine needs help from its allies including Europe and the USA. Biden has places several economic sanctions on Russia including seizing oil purchases and placing unprecendented penalties on Russia's central bank. The USA has effectively frozen the bank’s U.S. assets which prevents it from using its foreign reserves to inflate the value of the Russian ruble resulting in the lowest value of the ruble in history. In addition, the US blacklisted a major Russian sovereign wealth fund, further restricting Moscow’s access to money from abroad. Recently, the US is in the process of removing several Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), a Belgium-based interbank messaging service which would severely hinder Russia's ability to move money around the world. Joe Biden's next plan is to seize Russian oligarchs' personal property including yachts, luxury apartments, and private jets.
Clearly, these punishments are not enough and Putin will not stop. The United States of America needs to send our troops to Ukraine to help them combat Russia. Although many people are worried about starting a third world war by sending troops from other countries over to Ukraine, this is what needs to be done to create world peace. Besides, hasn't World War III already begun on February 24, 2022?
A writer for the New York Times, Tom Collina wrote, " the Biden administration is right to resist calls to deepen American military involvement in Ukraine, because the consequences of a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia could be unimaginably dire. If Mr. Biden bows to public pressure and, for instance, attempts to create a no-fly zone in Ukraine, we could be stepping on the path to nuclear war." The slight risk of a nuclear war, or World War III, is worth it to help another country in need. The U.S has one of the strongest armies in the world and Putin fears us. Until we step in by sending troops to fight in Ukraine this war will not end.
This is an interesting post and it brings up a variety of opinions regarding the matter in Ukraine. I personally do believe that Putin does not really take Biden seriously, but in the threat of world war and not to mention the nuclear war, losing a bit of pride is a worthy tradeoff of potentially countless more casualties. Additionally, while economic sanctions are not "hard-hitting" in liberating Ukraine from Putin, I believe that worldwide cooperation in this economic endeavor is commendable and not to mention likely a foreshadowing of how future wars and conflicts between countries will be fought. Regardless, the situation in Ukraine is looking grim, and I regrettably am not very informed this matter.
I think that you bring up an interesting point on the sanctions that Biden and other nations have put on sanctions like stopping monetary transactions which would greatly impact the citizens. Some companies have also stopped running their business in Russia like McDonald’s, but those generally impact everyday citizens that are seemingly against the war or not aware of Putin's disgraced actions. Although the war is never-ending, I don’t know if increasing U.S. military presence in Ukraine is the only necessary answer to stop the war.