In Their Words

Peace & War Summit - Enough aid to Ukraine but not too much as to cross a line in Putin’s had for a NATO territory attack?

Europeans are viewing this as more of their problem and are stepping up so there is a bit less pressure on the United States, but they should be doing more. Europeans should be more involved in European diplomacy as they know the situations and histories better, they should not be so reliant on the U.S. to step in and make the decisions on areas we are mot as well versed in. The no-fly zone was described as a very risky option that could trigger a nuclear response. The term “ally” was emphasized to be binding of actions versus the commonly loosely used version that simply displays that you “like” each other or align well with them and favor them. The first rule of NATO fight club is knowing the actual treaty, in reference to one NATO country being able to veto an idea and not automatically having all of them... Read more →

Peace & War Summit - How would you frame this war and what is the general strategy the United States could respond?

A few answers for the reason for war were historical background, increase of sphere of influence, and the vision of how the world should be with a possible new world order that is not U.S. dominant. Since there are so many reasons to consider, it makes it very difficult for the U.S. to know how to best tackle resolving or deescalating the situation. One speaker explained that the U.S. had a huge hand in writing the source code for post Cold War world, and there’s a fear of what the world order might look like if we lose that place after the end of this next conflict. The gas prices were mentioned as it was explained that politicians must ask what they can reasonably ask of the U.S. society as strategy starts to affect the domestic population with things like taxes or a draft. Read more →

Peace & War Summit - 1st Session Reaction

The Governor of Vermont spoke on the need to support Ukraine, especially after seeing parents leave their children to fight, faced with the question, is it better to leave my child without a father or a future? He applauded their resolve and strength, having the heart and will with the truth and moral high ground on their side. It was very interesting for me to listen to General Weidner speak because in my military science classes we have recently learned what the U.S. Strategic Command does. He had mentioned the importance of needing to be able to prepare to deter both China and Russia at the same time as we have spoken about in our Asian Politics class. In terms of the actual strategy, he emphasized that integrated is better than just coordinated, meaning there is deterrence across all domains such as cyber. He next mentioned how the U.S. people... Read more →