“The West is Partly at Fault for the Russia Ukraine War”

In a crisis that is occurring like the one between Russia and Ukraine, most Americans like to bury their head in the sand and jump to the easiest conclusions. In this case that would be that America is innocent in this whole situation and that Putin is simply an evil, power-hungry man; nothing more, nothing less. This of course isn’t the complete truth, and most Americans aren’t quick to own America’s involvement in such a terrifying crisis. What many don’t understand is that America is a war machine, and if they are to condemn the actions of Russia then they must also condemn America’s actions.

In 2015 political scientist John Mearsheimer gave a lecture at the university of Chicago that has become hauntingly foretelling. A full seven years before Russia formally invaded Ukraine Mearsheimer predicted exactly what would occur between the two countries. In his lecture Mearsheimer explains how the expansion of NATO and the west in eastern Europe has put NATO and Russia on the war path, and by effectively pushing to Russia’s doorstep we have forced Putin to act. In this case Putin is acting against the Ukraine, which lies on Russia’s borders and has been in talks to joining NATO. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also known as NATO, has a long history of violence and war crimes throughout the world. NATO has a negative, controversial reputation to put it mildly, in fact just a couple years ago the president of France spoke to his people about France possibly revoking their membership to NATO. With this in mind it’s no wonder why Putin doesn’t want a pro-western war machine on his borders. As of now, Ukraine is one of the last European countries remaining between Russia and the west, and by turning them into a pro-NATO state we have severely threatened Russia’s security and further isolated them from the rest of the world. Putin has stated before that this will not be tolerated, but no one has listened and now Russia is invading Ukraine in order to do whatever is necessary in making sure that NATO is not on its borders. According to Mearsheimer no one should be surprised about what Putin is doing and he raises a good point.

Imagine for the sake of argument, that there was a massive organization that consisted of pro Chinese and Russian members whose goal is to spread their brand of politics all over the globe. Not only this, but this organization has long history of war crimes and this organization’s growth into the west is a huge security risk for our country and democracy. Now, imagine this organization slowly spreading throughout the world and gradually into western countries, swallowing the nations around us. Imagine western Europe joining this organization, then parts of South America. With the real possibility of this organization taking more western territory, the U.S threatens action if this expansion does not stop moving into the West. Our warning goes unheard, and soon Cuba has joined this organization, With Mexico and Canada in talks to joining as well. What do you think our government would do in such a situation? If Canada and Mexico join this organization, America will effectively be surrounded with our enemies, no allies to be seen in North America. This is a security risk beyond words, and our government would not tolerate it. Our people too would not tolerate it. Yet this is the very situation Russia finds itself in now and we wonder why this is happening. Mearsheimer argues that the Ukraine and surrounding countries should have been left as neutral states, neither pro-Russian nor pro-NATO. In effect the Ukraine would act as a buffer between Russia and the West, promoting a shaky truce between Western and Russian ideals. Alas this has not happened, and it could have been avoided. Yes, Putin’s actions are condemnable. No, his invasion is not justified. Violence should never be tolerated. But to pretend that America is innocent in this whole mess would be wrong and frankly hypocritical. America is a war machine, as is NATO of which we are a member. If we are to condemn Russia’s actions, then we must also condemn our own. Crises like the one occurring in Ukraine will continue as long as war machines are allowed to operate. We must all learn to think critically and question the actions our own country in crises such as the one we are seeing between Russia and Ukraine. Only by doing this will we start to put war machines out of business.