Running head: THE LAST WORLD SUPERPOWER

The Last World Superpower Nicholas Follbaum Madonna University

THE LAST WORLD SUPERPOWER Abstract

The United States needs to intervene in the Ukraine crisis. Over the past months, there was a revolution in Ukraine. They wanted to become closer to Europe and farther from Russia. After the revolution, Russia took some of Ukraines land and made it part of Russia. The US needs to get involved because their allies in Europe need oil from Russia. Their partnership in NATO requires them to become involved. The US does not want Russia to start another Warsaw pact, which would make them a threat again. The Budapest Memorandum On Security Assurances states that the US must defend Ukraine if they are attacked. If they do not, they will lose their position as world leader because no one will respect them. If something is not done, another world war could breakout. Some people say the US should keep out of the conflict, but if they do, it will harm the economy. In conclusion, the US has no choice but to try to end the conflict.

THE LAST WORLD SUPERPOWER The Last World Superpower War is the most prevalent aspect of humanity. It has been waged for many reasons, but no matter what the reason, it always affects everyone involved. Land is lost or taken, people die, civilizations are destroyed, and new ones rise up in their place. War is a very pivotal act, and many countries try to stay away from it in order to stay safe. However, in Ukraine, war is imminent. Russia has taken the region of Crimea, which is in Ukraine. Russia is ready to defend this acquisition if necessary, and Ukraine wants the region back. Meanwhile, the US, and many other countries are watching and waiting to intervene. Why

does the US have such an interest in this conflict? Shouldnt they sit back and let Russia and Ukraine fight it out themselves? Unfortunately, this conflict is not that simple. Russias invasion of Ukraine forces the U.S. to become involved militarily in the situation, because of gas prices, N.A.T.O., an Asian union, the Budapest Memorandum On Security Assurances, national prestige, and World War. In late 2013, the presidents of Ukraine decided too push back the signing of a bill that would bring Ukraine closer to the European union. One of the reasons he did this is because Russia had been putting pressure on him not to sign the bill. They wanted Ukraine to form a closer alliance with them, so they offered to buy Ukrainian bonds and lower the price of gas, which most of Europe gets from Russia. The people of Ukraine wanted the president to sign the treaty that would bring them closer to the European union. When he pushed the date of the signing back, they started to protest. Thousands of people filled Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, and many other cities. While the protests started peacefully, they quickly took a turn for the worse. Riot police were sent in to control the crowds, but soon fighting broke out. It quickly became ugly, as protesters were throwing Molotov cocktails,

THE LAST WORLD SUPERPOWER and the police were firing at the protesters, sometimes killing them. After many days of what had turned into a revolution, the president fled the country, and another president was elected. It seemed that the conflict was over, but in fact it was just beginning. (Yuhas, 2014)

When a new president was elected, Russia realized their chances of an alliance with Ukraine were quickly dissipating. If they did not do something about it, they would lose access to a very valuable port in Ukraine, which most of their oil was exported through. Therefore, they sent troops into Ukraine, specifically the region of Crimea, where the port was located. However, these troops were unmarked, and wore no badges of affiliation. This way Russia was able to deny the troops came from them, and said they were militia from Ukraine that wanted to join Russia. The denial of affiliation gave Russian troops time to take control of the region. They quickly blockaded roads, locked down airports, and surrounded military bases. When the Ukrainian government protested, along with many other countries, Russia responded by suggesting the citizens of Crimea vote on which country to join. It is important to note that the majority of citizens in Crimea were Russian, so Russia was confident that they would win the vote. When the vote was held, Russia did win and officially absorbed the region of Crimea into the Russian Federation. However, this vote was not agreed upon by Ukraine, and they along with most of the world did not accept the subsequent results. After this acquisition, many countries tried to suggest a peaceful solution, while quietly preparing for war. Some countries, including the US, are trying to force Russia to back down by imposing sanctions on them. Meanwhile, Russia has been massing troops by the border of Ukraine in preparation for a conflict. This is the extent of the conflict to this date. (Yuhas, 2014)

THE LAST WORLD SUPERPOWER One of the reasons the US is so involved in the Ukrainian conflict is Russian fuel. Russia is the main provider of fuel to Europe, in fact, according to Steve Hargreaves, (Hargteaves, 2014) Europe currently gets about 25% of its natural gas from Russia.

This gives them a good deal of power over all the countries they provide for. In fact, one of the reasons many of the European countries are hesitant to act against Russia is because they are afraid of losing their only supply of fuel. The US has many allies in Europe, and must get involved to protect them. If the situation gets out of hand, and Russia does cut off their fuel, these allies will look to the US for an answer. The US doesnt have the capability to ship enough fuel to Europe at this time, so the best solution would be to stop the problem before it starts. If Russia cuts the fuel lines, it would cause a catastrophe across Europe. Everything in these countries would grind to a halt, and some of the USs biggest allies would be helpless. This situation would be as much of a disaster for the US as it would be for European countries. However, if the US can help bring peace, the crisis would be averted. The US position in NATO is one of the reasons they must be involved in the conflict in Ukraine. NATO stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. According to their website, NATOs essential purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of its members through political and military means. (NATO) During the cold war, the US and the USSR were doing anything they could to establish dominance over the other. Because the US and other countries in Europe were worried that the USSR was to powerful, in 1949 they formed NATO. The purpose of the treaty was to protect each other against a soviet attack. The USSR, which was possibly trying to break up the union, was denied the ability to join when they asked. In response, they started their own treaty, called the Warsaw Pact.

THE LAST WORLD SUPERPOWER This brought countries into the Soviet Union, and was the soviet version of NATO. When the USSR collapsed, the Warsaw pact was finally disbanded. However, NATO was kept together, even without the threat of war with the USSR. It has been called upon several times recently to solve problems around the world. Most recently, NATO was asked to

intervene in the Ukraine conflict. While Ukraine is not a member of NATO, Poland called for the intervention, because of growing fears of Russia. While Russia has never been a member of NATO, they were part of a joint mission to promote peace. However, NATO has cut all ties with Russia recently because of the Ukraine conflict. The US has to be active in regards to the conflict in Ukraine because Poland has called upon NATO. NATO is too important to US security too leave. They would have significantly fewer allies if they did, and trade between these nations would drop dramatically. The US has to come up with a solution with NATO or risk losing valuable resources. The US cannot afford to let Russia build another Warsaw pact like the one during the cold war. Recently, Russia has been trying to form closer ties with countries around it, like Ukraine. According to Herszenhorn, Crimea was effectively part of Russia from the late 1700s until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. (Herszenhorn, 2014) taking Crimea is certainly an attempt to form am alliance much like the Warsaw pact the USSR had. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia fell into a state of relative poverty. They were not ready to suddenly change to a capitalistic society, and they went from being a superpower to a country with little influence. When the economy finally started getting better, Russia tried to assert themselves as a superpower again. However, not many countries wanted to treat them like a superpower when they were still struggling to rise out of poverty. Because of this, Russia started looking for ways to gain back the respect

THE LAST WORLD SUPERPOWER they lost. One of the ways they plan to do this is to form a strong alliance between

neighboring countries, to challenge the power of NATO. This is a big problem for the US. At the moment, they are the only superpower in the world, and it is in their best interest to keep it that way. They do not want battle another country trying to gain power, like they did in the cold war. The US was not stable during the cold war, and does not want to go back to that state again. The best way to prevent Russia from becoming a superpower is to meet the Ukrainian conflict head on. The US can prevent them from having an important ally, a port that is very important, and establish dominance by making Russia back down. Due to the Budapest Memorandum On Security Assurances, the US is required to protect Ukraine if they are attacked. Article four of the document states, 4. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm their commitment to seek immediate United Nations Security Council action to provide assistance to Ukraine, as a non-nuclear-weapon State party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, if Ukraine should become a victim of an act of aggression or an object of a threat of aggression in which nuclear weapons are used; (1994) When the USSR collapsed, there were many nuclear weapons in the hands of various countries. However, because the threat of war was lowered, the US started to remove as many nuclear weapons as they could from countries they thought did not need them. One of the countries that had many nuclear weapons was Ukraine. However, they did not want to hand them over because they thought they would be defenseless if they did. Because of this, the US, Russia, and the United Kingdoms promised to protect Ukraine if they were attacked. It is obvious that Russia has not honored this agreement, but Ukraine is counting

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on the US to fulfill their side of the bargain. Russias capture of Crimea has forced the issue, and the US has to take a side, which will upset the balance of the nation. However, the alternative is to lose credibility, which is something the US cannot afford to do. If the US loses credibility on a worldwide level, the nation will undergo many hardships it would not had to. Treaties are powerful; in fact, they hold the civilized world together. However, they are only held together by trust. If one of the members of a treaty is not trustworthy, they may be removed from the agreement. An ally who cannot be trusted is dangerous. The US has many treaties, because they see themselves as a world power. They make agreements with everyone in order to keep peace. If they broke a treaty, it would be detrimental to their position in the world. It is impossible to be a world power if no one respects what you say. The US has worked very hard to become the only superpower, and they would like to keep it that way for as long as possible. That is why they have to become involved in the Ukraine conflict. If they do not, they will lose their position worldwide. The US must try to end the conflict peacefully, because if a war starts between Russia and Ukraine, it will become a world war. As reported by business week, The presence of as many as 40,000 soldiers along Ukraines eastern border is fueling concern that Russia is poised to invade on the pretext of protecting Russian-speaking inhabitants of eastern and southern Ukraine. (Neuger, Ratnam, Meyer, 2014) There are too many countries that are invested in Russia and Ukraine that would have to become involved. Most of the countries of Europe would fight because all of their fuel will be cut off. Any member of NATO would be involved, even if it were not militarily. Because the US would be involved, Canada and Australia would most likely join the war as well. This small conflict

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could quickly spiral into a worldwide disaster. Russia is hoping that everyone realizes this, and they will let the incident go. However, Ukraine is hoping the other countries will step up to Russia, and make them step down. However, while peaceful solutions are being tried, both sides are preparing for war. The best way to guard against a war is to stop it before it starts. Some people say that the US does not have to get involved. They say we should stay out of the affairs of Europe, and take care of only ourselves. They say that staying out of the conflict will not harm the US. While this might seem like it would work, because it would be hard to see the effects, it would make the US very unstable. If they ignored the conflict, other world leaders will not trust the US to help in times of need. This would cause a split from all of the allies of the US. Considering the US makes a lot of money from exporting products, the stop in trade would hurt the economy. In conclusion, The US is unable to avoid becoming involved in the Ukrainian conflict. If they want to keep their spot as the superpower of the world, they must meet the problem head on. Through NATO, they can decide in what way to best defuse the conflict before it comes to war. Even if NATO was not involved, the US would be forced to take action due to the Budapest Memorandum On Security Assurances. If it does come to war, it will wipe out life on earth as we know it.

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References Budapest Memorandums on Security Assurances, 1994. (1994, Dec). Retrieved Mar, 2014. Kent, S., & Sonne, P. (2014, March 21). Sanctions on Russia Take First Bite. In The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 24, 2014 Dastagir, A. E. (2014, March 20). Ukraine, Russia, Crimea: How the story evolved. In USA Today. Retrieved March 24, 2014, from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/03/20/ukraine-crisisexplainer/6610749/ Smith, M., & Gumuchian, M. (2014, March 17). Ukraine 'will never accept' Crimea annexation, President says. In CNN. Retrieved March 24, 2014, from http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/17/world/europe/ukraine-crisis/ Herszenhorn, D. M. (2014, March 16). Crimea Votes to Secede From Ukraine as Russian Troops Keep Watch. In The New York Times. Retrieved March 24, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/17/world/europe/crimea-ukraine-secessionvote-referendum.html?_r=0 Hargreaves, S. (2014, March 3). Russian energy should keep flowing. In CNNMoney. Retrieved April 7, 2014, from http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/03/news/economy/russia-oil-price What is NATO?. (n.d.). In NATO. Retrieved April 7, 2014, from http://www.nato.int/natowelcome/index.html Neuger, J. G., Ratnam, G., & Meyer, H. (2014, April 2). NATO Warns Russia Force on Ukraine Border Ready to Act. InBusinessWeek. Retrieved April 7, 2014

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Yuhas, A. (2014, April 13). Ukraine crisis: an essential guide to everything that's happened so far. In theguardian. Retrieved April 23, 2014, from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/11/ukraine-russia-crimea-sanctions-useu-guide-explainer