By Daniel Nardini
Before 2022, I never even remotely saw anything about Ukraine or things Ukrainian. Every time I take my wife to work now I see a house on the way always displaying a Ukrainian national flag. I see pro-Ukraine bumper stickers on cars. I see people wearing Ukrainian flag pins and even the Ukrainian Trident of Saint Volodymyr. With the exception of the Ukrainian community in Chicago, I had NEVER seen so many Ukrainian symbols in my life. It seems that Ukraine has become the Tibet crusade of the 1990’s. It seems Americans love the underdog in a fight, even if they do not understand entirely what that fight might be.
Here are some facts about Ukraine that are worth noting. The country borders Russia (no surprises there), Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova. While estimates of its population is hard to come by due to the war, it is believed to be between 32 and 37 million. Here are three key things to keep in mind; Ukraine is not part of the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) alliance, there are no U.S. military bases in the country, and Ukraine has no treaty of defense with the United States. Because Ukraine is not part of NATO, the rest of NATO members, including the United States, are under no obligation of invoking Article 5 of the NATO charter for the defense of Ukraine (this is only for NATO members only, and any country joining NATO has to be approved by all NATO member countries. This is how Sweden and Finland got into NATO).
Additionally, Ukraine is not a member of the European Union (EU), and why the rest of the EU member countries have been hesitant about getting involved with helping Ukraine. It is now true that more EU countries are getting involved with helping Ukraine, but NO NATO troops have been officially sent to fight for Ukraine. This so far is the line NATO and EU countries have not crossed even at this late stage of the game because they do not want to anger Russia. If all of this sounds like a not-so-black-and-white conflict it is because it is not. While there is no doubt who started the war (Russia), the EU and indeed the rest of Europe seem to not be too keen about getting involved in helping Ukraine even though it might be in their national security interests. For the United States, it is not really in this country’s interests like say South Korea or Japan where America has actual defense treaties with these two countries and U.S. troops stationed in both. Nevertheless, I am not going to tell Americans who they should support. I will just see all of these flags and symbols around where I live and that is all.
The Ukraine Craze
By Daniel Nardini
Here are some facts about Ukraine that are worth noting. The country borders Russia (no surprises there), Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova. While estimates of its population is hard to come by due to the war, it is believed to be between 32 and 37 million. Here are three key things to keep in mind; Ukraine is not part of the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) alliance, there are no U.S. military bases in the country, and Ukraine has no treaty of defense with the United States. Because Ukraine is not part of NATO, the rest of NATO members, including the United States, are under no obligation of invoking Article 5 of the NATO charter for the defense of Ukraine (this is only for NATO members only, and any country joining NATO has to be approved by all NATO member countries. This is how Sweden and Finland got into NATO).
Additionally, Ukraine is not a member of the European Union (EU), and why the rest of the EU member countries have been hesitant about getting involved with helping Ukraine. It is now true that more EU countries are getting involved with helping Ukraine, but NO NATO troops have been officially sent to fight for Ukraine. This so far is the line NATO and EU countries have not crossed even at this late stage of the game because they do not want to anger Russia. If all of this sounds like a not-so-black-and-white conflict it is because it is not. While there is no doubt who started the war (Russia), the EU and indeed the rest of Europe seem to not be too keen about getting involved in helping Ukraine even though it might be in their national security interests. For the United States, it is not really in this country’s interests like say South Korea or Japan where America has actual defense treaties with these two countries and U.S. troops stationed in both. Nevertheless, I am not going to tell Americans who they should support. I will just see all of these flags and symbols around where I live and that is all.