When I first heard about opposition to the Ukraine war, my mind drifted back to the Second World War. While I was not alive during the conflict, I made the connection between the strategy of appeasement used by both the allied powers and today’s lawmakers. 

Appeasement is conceding land or resources to another power to maintain their relations, according to International Relations teacher Joe Iuliano.

“Appeasement is giving into one country’s or a bloc of countries’ demand in terms of what they want to do in their national relation interactions,” Iuliano said. 

Many Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates have staunchly opposed U.S. involvement in the Ukraine war. One of these individuals, businessman and republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, has a huge influence in politics, and the statements made by republican lawmakers.  

This inconsistent man has encouraged Russia to invade non-paying NATO countries, stated multiple times that Putin “is not going to go into Ukraine,” and avoided a question about whether he wants Ukraine or Russia to win the war. The misinformation caused by Trump and other republican lawmakers, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, representative of the 14th district of Georgia, could have catastrophic impacts on the Ukraine war.  

As misinformation and conspiracy theories spread, a U.S. involvement in the Ukraine war might seem unnecessary to an American citizen. With the presidential elections occurring in November, a win by a candidate like Donald Trump could cause the U.S. to pull most or all funding to Ukraine and focus on areas of the world that republicans see as more important, like the U.S.-Mexico border.  

The justification for this action is that Ukraine is not important to U.S. interests. However, Ukraine is a key country to keep Russia in its place. If Russian President Vladimir Putin captures Ukraine, he will not only have control of “the breadbasket of Europe,”producing five percent of the world’s grain, but he will have broken the first “island chain.”  

This term is commonly used to describe western pacific countries, which keep China from dominating the pacific. I believe that Ukraine is also the first link in its own island chain, keeping Russia from expanding its border into more of Europe. If Russia captures Ukraine, border countries like Moldova, Romania, and Poland will suddenly have Russia on their doorstep.