Grant Voytovich-Blog 2

 Grant Voytovich

Blog 2


The most popular world event right now is the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.  President Putin has said that Ukraine is a threat to peace and global security, which is why they eventually decided to invade Ukraine.  Many innocent people have died, and Russia hasn’t really gotten anywhere as of now.  The question if you’re the United States is whether or not they send troops into Ukraine to support them.  I believe that the United States shouldn’t send troops into Ukraine as of right now.  “The Duck of Minerva” by Peter Henne explains what the United States did wrong in leaving Afghanistan, and how they could’ve fixed their wrongs.  Obviously, there’s a lot of differences between Afghanistan and the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but it is never easy sending troops to support a country, and pulling them out afterwards.  So, I think we should hold off on sending troops as of now.

The United States sent troops into Afghanistan on October 7, 2001.  The Biden administration decided to pull the troops out in 2020, and they were officially out by 2021.  Everytime you send troops into a country, they are extremely difficult to pull out.  So, if the United States decides to send troops into Ukraine, it might help with the war, but its a tough decision to determine when and how to pull the troops out.  “The Duck of Minerva” talked about this, but with the US in Afghanistan.  I also think that the US should avoid sending troops into Ukraine because they already have surrounding presence in Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary because of NATO.  So, the United States already has some presence in that area.  The United States has also given NATO countries supplies to fight Russia if needed.  For example, they have sent fighter jets and weapons to NATO countries, so that’s a pretty significant contribution.  The next reason why the United States shouldn’t invade Ukraine is because a lot of people in the United States don’t think we need to get involved.  Biden would receive a lot of backlash from United States citizens if he does invade, so that wouldn’t look good for him if he does.  It wouldn’t make sense for Biden to invade because he would lose a lot of support for the next election.

My argument isn’t that the United States should never help Ukraine with our troops, its more so that we shouldn’t do it right now.  We have sent troops to surrounding NATO countries to support if needed, and we have sent supplies to Ukraine as well.  This conflict is obviously very serious, and it should be treated as such, but sending troops into a country is not easy by any means.  Taking them out of that country is also extremely difficult, like we saw in Afghanistan.  It definitely could get to the point where we have to intervene, though.

Comments

  1. Kameron SchrefflerMarch 8, 2022 at 11:51 AM

    Grant, first off, I would like to say that your blog post was very strong, and you made several points that I agree with completely. I also believe with the current state of the situation we should not send troops. As I mentioned in my blog post the United States does not need to take any further action at this time, because it may escalate the situation, and it would be a lose-lose situation for the United States. It seems like you agree with that from your post. Our blog post connected several times making a lot of similar point. Great post!

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    1. Grant VoytovichMarch 8, 2022 at 5:10 PM

      Thank you Kam. It might get to the point where the US has to send troops, but I don't think its quite there yet like we both argued.

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  2. Ciara FarrellMarch 8, 2022 at 2:04 PM

    I think this post is very strong and I completely agree with the claims you made. For right now I think the US should definitely not send troops into Ukraine as it would not be in our best interest. The fight between Russia and Ukraine has just begun and it will probably continue for a long time, the US can wait and take action. We have a lot of allies in Europe that as well need to make the decision of what to do in Ukraine and I think we need to see what they do as well. I think it is great that the US has offered aid in other ways and I think it is important to mention that Biden has been cutting Russia off the US as a punishment for their actions in Ukraine. By stopping Russia and halting their trade, the US is sending the message that they are against Putin and more is to come. I think the US should remain as we are right now and when the time comes, if it is right to get more involved and send troops, we will do so. The decision with Afghanistan was not fully supported and if we went in troops now, it definitely would not be fully supported and would receive negative feedback from the people.

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    1. Grant VoytovichMarch 8, 2022 at 5:16 PM

      Thank you Ciara, I completely agree with your points. I want to emphasize the point you made about our allies in Europe because they will probably have a strong influence on the decision that we make. I believe it'll be important to monitor their responses throughout all of this.

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  3. John WallaceMarch 9, 2022 at 8:26 AM

    Great post Grant, I also believe that the USA should not directly send troops into Ukraine, but rather it should work to bolster its allies in Europe. Right now, Russia is on a timer for its economy and resources. The longer the war, the more damaging it serves for Russia's forces and economy. However, this may lead Russia to become desperate and support more bloody tactics in its pursuit of victory. So it begs the question if the UN should send peacekeeping forces if the war becomes too destructive.

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    1. Grant VoytovichMarch 9, 2022 at 7:13 PM

      Thank you John, I think your last sentence is a very difficult question to answer, and probably one of the most important ones. I think it will be difficult to send UN peacekeeping forces because it would then force Russia to act even more irrationally. But, it could get to the point where that is required.

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