The United State's Place in the Ukrainian-Russian Conflict

With rising tensions between neighboring countries: Russia and Ukraine, a question that comes to mind is: does the U.S. have the right to intervene. As the Ukrainian military prepares for possible invasion of Russia, can and will the U.S. play a role in the dispute?

Republican lawmakers are urging President Barack Obama to begin taking actions to prevent the situation from becoming any worse. One of the GOP’s strongest supporters, John McCain spoke out as to why we as a nation should intervene:

"Every moment the United States and our allies fail to respond sends the signal to President Putin that he can be even more ambitious and aggressive in his military intervention in Ukraine," McCain said.

Tensions between these countries escalated due to anti-government protests that have been going on in the past 3 months in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev. The majority of the population has been in dispute with the government’s over its decision to make ties with Russia stronger instead agreeing with an accord from the European Union back in November 2013.  For the past few months, the country has been in turmoil; the Ukraine government has taken a violent retaliation against protestors. Police attacks on student protestors, abduction and physical beatings of activists, and several new anti-protesting laws have created a state of fear amongst the people in its country. Former President Yanukovych of Ukraine has made his ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin more public than ever before after being deposed. Protecting his stance and Russia as a global power, Putin ordered troops to Ukraine to defend “Russian-speaking citizens” in the ethnically divided country. On March 2, 2014 Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev took to Facebook and called for a “seizure of power” from the Ukrainian new government. Additionally, President Putin declared war on Ukraine, claiming them to be “Moscow’s biggest confrontation with the west since the Cold War”. In response to this action, Ukraine is in process of currently mobilizing troops in anticipation of invasion.

So, does the U.S. have even the right to intervene what is going over in the east? Sanctions have been imposed on high-level Russian officials involved in the escalating crisis in Ukraine as well as the Obama administration suspending military ties with the country. Is this enough? The U.S. government released a statement claiming if Moscow does not turn around in the crisis, “officials said they would ban visas and freeze assets of select Russian officials in the chain of command as well as target state-run financial institutions.” Many republicans have come out with claims that Russia should be punished with action and force for their disruption with Ukraine. Yes, we ally ourselves with Ukraine, but do we need to continue the mantra of being the world’s superhero? Being the mediator for every single problem takes burden on the country’s wallet as well as resources. President Obama does have “deep concern over Russia’s clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity”. Personally, Obama’s standing firm without any drastic action is appropriate for the current situation in the east. Unfortunately, like any other global political crisis, so many drastic actions has been taken by Russia, there are multiple theories as to how this could all end for both Russia and Ukraine; all completely plausible. The United States and the Obama Administration should watch from the sidelines; be ready to be an intervening force while patiently waiting for our cue to save the day.