Trump Is Already Helping Putin Consolidate Control of Ukraine - Daniel Frederick

    

       While most Americans are not interested in the affairs of other nations, especially the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, there has been much controversy and development regarding this foreign issue in recent weeks. This article highlighted the intensity of the Ukrainian conflict, and how the United States’ presidential election, especially GOP candidate Donald Trump, is impacting the decisions and reactions of these two nations. 

   This conflict is extremely significant in regards to both Russian aggression in Eastern Europe and the presidential elections because it has the ability to destabilize much of the eastern hemisphere and potentially draw the US into a heated, conventional war, and that it highlights the attitude and possible actions of a candidate running for the highest political office in the US, if not the world. In the weeks leading up to the United States presidential elections, Mr. Trump has said many controversial statements that include “[Putin] is not going into Ukraine”, which is a fact that has been refuted on many occasions, especially with evidence from the Russian annexation of Crimea, and “Wouldn't it be great if we got along with Russia?", a nation that is known to harshly oppress minorities and has occupied hundreds of miles of territory in the Donbas region. Days later after making these statements, Mr. Trump openly supported and justified President Putin’s argument that Russia has the right to claim and take the sovereign territory of another nation, which is against international law. Mr. Putin is exploiting this support from Donald Trump, and has recently staged tens of thousands of troops on the Russian-Ukrainian border without concerning the American population.

Another reason for the significance of this issue is how President Putin’s actions have gone unnoticed or unopposed, and what this means for both Ukraine and the Baltic States. This is due to the lack of political capital or willpower within the international community regarding the Ukrainian conflict. Denis Volkov, the spokesperson for the polling service Levada, said “In this dead-end situation, Putin is going to push his own agenda, using the moment when there is no real public interest in the Ukraine affair in the world” (Politico, 2016). In order to engage in political thinking, citizens must expose themselves to the realities of the world through reading or watching the news, and clearly, many individuals are apathetic to the well-being and livelihood of millions of people threatened by war and occupation. What are your beliefs about this problem, and how would you like the presidential candidate you personally support address this issue?

 - Daniel Frederick