U.S. must not get involved in Ukraine

Letter to the Editor: U.S. must not get involved in Ukraine

JORDAN O’CONNELL
February 23, 2022
Wisconsin State Journal
Madison, Wisconsin

The United States today finds itself preparing to defend European interests as it did in the 1940s. This is where the comparison ends, as the world has been transformed in the years since our last defense of the European continent.

The Russian president’s aim in Ukraine is to arrest NATO’s reach into Eastern Europe, not ignite another world war. The conflict in Ukraine must not become a global showdown between democracies and autocracies, particularly one fueled by unearned American hubris. For the United States to escalate Vladimir Putin’s conflict risks the unspeakable, and no reward could justify such incalculable danger. America's wars of choice imperil the world.

The words of heroic aviator Charles Lindbergh, urged months before America’s entry into World War II, seem uniquely fitting for this moment:

"If we are forced into a war against the wishes of an overwhelming majority of our people, we will have proved democracy such a failure at home that there will be little use fighting for it abroad. ... Whether or not we do enter the war, rests upon the shoulders of you in this audience. ... It depends upon the action we take, and the courage we show at this time."