Students, teachers weigh in on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Photo by Anjali Pai

In the past few weeks, sophomore Minh Do has felt powerless and dismayed as he has followed news about Russia’s military assault on Ukraine.

He is especially focused on the mounting economic and humanitarian problems for Ukrainians  along with the role social media has played as disinformation within the war. 

Senior Kunal Shrivastav’s opinions do not coincide with that of the general public’s. Kunal, an officer of the Democracy Matters Club, is concerned that while the current conflict could escalate into one of a larger scale in Europe, he believes it perhaps could have been avoided.

“I think the war was a reason of constant NATO block expansion, which was perceived as a threat from Russia,” he said. “The current President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, seems to be inclined to side with the West. If Zelensky had kept an open channel of communication with Russian leadership, the war could have been avoided.”

Shrivastav suggested that the U.S. and other countries should negotiate and cut down the expansion of NATO.

Aside from being concerned for Ukrainians, junior Apoorva Talwalkar said she worries the war will affect the entire European continent.

Still other students have expressed differing opinions that China may invade Taiwan in a similar course of action.

Economy and social media

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shaken the global economy, consequentially raising prices of raw materials like gasoline. According to CNBC, the nationwide average gasoline price is likely to rise past the four dollar mark — the average California gasoline price has soared above $5 and sometimes $6 a gallon — accounting toward an extra $75 billion in annual spending by Americans to fill their gas tanks.

Do feels that the economic reverberations of the conflict will be felt far and wide, straining the American economy further beyond the already-devastating effects of the pandemic and rapid inflation.

“People are already spending more than ever before, and the issue has only worsened. It’s remarkable that a conflict 10 time zones away has such a profound international impact,” said Do.

Aside from economic damage, Do strongly disapproves of the behavior exhibited across social media platforms regarding the war. 

Many users have viewed the war as a means to generate content, with TikToks about the “ghost of Kyiv” taken from footage in a military-based shooting game, disregarding the role that hero propaganda plays and the true severity of the ongoing crisis.

Do noted that the Russo-Ukrainian war is among the first where social media has played an outsize role, with individuals inside Ukraine releasing rarely-seen-before footage from the perspective of citizens under attack. 

“The stark contrast between a Ukrainian civilian posting a video of a cruise missile striking his home versus an entitled teenager in the U.S. making jokes about World War III is absolutely striking,” Do said. 

Do emphasized the importance of staying informed and understanding the scope of diplomacy before posting something which could be detrimental and downplay the crisis at hand. 

Additionally, Do feels the war is a prime example of ignorant usage of social media, and believes people who are granted the luxury of free speech ought to use it to create a positive impact. 

“I think people should look at the situation from the angle of a citizen from Ukraine or the Baltic states. It deeply saddens me that people have poked fun at the situation because it is not a joke and my heart reaches out towards the Ukrainian people,” Do said. 

Differing sentiments about NATO’s responsibility

Countries such as the U.S., Britain, Germany, Hungary, Poland, China and Syria have already seen the conflict between Ukraine and Russia impact its economic and foreign relations. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, alliance security commitments between NATO members will likely cause tensions between Russia and neighboring NATO countries to increase, especially if such countries are likely to involve the U.S. Moreover, the war may strain future cooperation on issues such as arms control, cybersecurity, nuclear nonprofliferation, counter-terrorism and more.

“Unless [the United States] is dragged into an actual combat or war, I don’t think we will be that heavily impacted,” said senior Kunal Shrivastav, an officer of the Democracy Matters club. “However, as every country tries to twist the facts, that could lead to unnecessary tensions between countries.”

Taiwan — a possibly mirrored situation

While the unfolding crisis may not severely impact Americans beyond a significant uptick in prices, students of Taiwanese descent with family members on the island are worried that the West’s course of action — or specifically, lack thereof — against Russia may embolden neighboring superpower China to invade Taiwan.

Sophomore Owen Chang, who is Taiwanese-American, expressed deep concern regarding China’s provocative actions toward Taiwan, which have risen over the course of the past few years. 

Beijing considers Taiwan as a rogue province of China and has stated it is willing to commit to any means — including military action — to “reunite” the island with the rest of the nation. China has regularly breached Taiwan’s airspace since the start of the pandemic in an effort to antagonize their neighboring country, with violations numbering 380 in just 2020 alone, according to The Guardian. Recently, their efforts have only strengthened; numerous Chinese warplanes were detected within Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone, with the largest incursion being 39 planes in a single day. 

Chang fears the tensions between China and Taiwan could boil toward a conflict similar to the Russo-Ukrainian war, where Russian forces initially limited the severity of their attacks to key military targets but later transitioned to the shelling of civilian areas.

“My primary worry is that China will not restrict itself toward attacking purely military targets and target civilian areas as well,” Chang said.

In addition, Chang believes Beijing is monitoring the Western response to Russia’s aggression and taking note of how it could influence a hypothetical invasion of Taiwan in the future.

In Chang’s view, the U.S. and its allies ought to step up their efforts by arming the Ukranians with higher tier anti-tank and airplane weaponry along with placing even tougher sanctions on Moscow.

“The United States needs to realize that if it’s not careful with its response, it could further fuel the flames of another conflict in the Taiwan Strait,” Chang said. 

The best-case scenario is that the U.S. can maintain diplomatic relations with China and take into account the millions of Taiwanese citizens whose fates lie in the hands between two jockeying superpowers.

On the other hand, senior Derek Hsu, the ASB president, has extended family in Taiwan and says there are “undeniable differences” between China-Taiwan and Ukraine-Russia tensions. Both of his parents are from Taiwan and immigrated to America as children.

 He noted that the two conflicts have different motives and different geographical situations: The Taiwan Strait creates a physical barrier between Taiwan and continental Asia, and the precedent of U.S. forces supporting Taiwan over the past several years magnifies the risk of an escalated global war if China does attempt to invade Taiwan, which may deter Chinese action.

Hsu referenced a Reuters article that he said perfectly summarizes his perception of the conflict: “Vladimir Putin’s war looks more like a deterrent to Xi Jinping than a road map.”

“I do believe the Ukraine conflict does create a paradigm shift in leaders like Xi Jinping and Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-Wen,” he said. “The amount of resilience among Ukrainians should motivate the Taiwanese to have a similar response in a potential invasion. Of course, this is all speculation, but there remains a level of concern as we follow the Ukraine conflict.”

The day after the invasion began, Ing-Wen described the situation Taiwan faces as “fundamentally different.” While Hsu found the statement “surprisingly early” considering the lack of information at that stage, he said he believes Taiwan can persevere and avoid a similar situation, but much depends on the world’s main superpower.

“The U.S.’s reaction can inspire or disappoint people depending on their world views, and it becomes a litmus test of our world’s willingness to avoid war,” Hsu said.

European impact

According to the European Union, an estimated 7 million displaced refugees will flee to Ukraine’s neighbors in Europe. So far, there have been 1.2 million Ukrainian refugees since February.

“I think the war between Russia and Ukraine is incredibly scary,” Talwalkar said. “No one is really sure how far Putin will go because he believes he is doing the right thing for Russia and the world. Putin has also threatened Europe and the west, and we could possibly be seeing a nuclear world war in our future.”

Beyond military action, however, Talwalkar emphasized the importance of having access to credible information. She said that Putin’s actions of blocking social media platforms such as Facebook (now renamed to Meta) in Russia prevents Russian citizens from gaining access to credible information, leaving them with only government-fed propaganda.

“Misinformation plays a huge role in the conflict,” she said. “It’s important to look at credible sources to get your information and do your research on the situation.”

While Talwalkar is glad that the U.S. has pledged support for Ukraine and Moldova, she said that it’s important to back it up with action and measures that will help Ukraine. 

“Right now, just donate when you can,” Talwalkar said. “Unicef has a link in bio to donate for aid to Ukrainian children, and there many more charities that are taking donations to aid Ukraine and provide relief for refugees.”

Parallels with past conflicts 

World History teacher Jerry Sheehy said he sees a lot of parallels between the current crisis and the event leading up to the start of World War II in Europe — particularly with Hitler and Czechoslovakia.

Hitler bullied the West into giving him the Sudentland by falsely claiming that millions of Germans in the Sudentland were being mistreated. However, he still got what he wanted with the Munich Pact, by which Czechoslovakia surrendered its borders and defenses to Nazi Germany. He then invaded and conquered all of Czechoslovakia, thereby breaking his promise for no more territorial demands.

“Putin has used language similar to Hitler’s in claiming that he is not invading Ukraine or even starting a war, but instead aiding Ukrainian dissidents,” Sheehy said. “However, in this case, Putin has access to nuclear weapons that Hitler didn’t.”

In his 23 years of teaching at the school, Sheehy said he doesn’t remember “anything quite like this.” Considering the pandemic and the recent political polarization in the U.S. and beyond, he said the direct involvement of the U.S. and Russia makes the conflict unlike anything else in the post-Cold War world. 

However, the “million dollar question” still remains, Sheehy said: How does the U.S. support Ukraine without starting WWIII? 

While he isn’t sure what the best course of action for the U.S. is, Sheehy said the Russian-Ukraine conflict will be a “pivotal moment in history.”

“Do we come together to rally around a country that is independent and free and wants to be part of the ‘Western team’ — NATO, E.U., etc. — or is Putin allowed to annex it?” Sheehy asked.  “Do we stand up to an authoritarian regime and the growing authoritarianism in general in today’s world?  And if Putin is allowed to annex Ukraine, will this only embolden him to take back more former Soviet states?”