By Emiliano Juarez
There are many conflicts and serious issues ongoing around the world such as the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, the Hong Kong injustices, and even the southern border in the United States. There has been a conflict roaming for a while since 2014; the borders of Ukraine and Russia. The border dispute has been going on since February 2014 in the Ukrainian regions, Crimea and Donbas. Ukraine was involved in many conflicts around the time of the seizure of Crimea, which led the Russian government to take control and annex the region. Many people living in Crimea also wanted to secede from the Ukrainian government and join Russia. In April of the same year, pro-Russian separatist groups of the self declared Donetsk and Luhansk Peoples Republic started a war with the Ukrainian government in the Donbas region of Ukraine. In the following months and years, Russia has continued to engage occupying and arming the territories.
In March of 2021, four Ukrainian soldiers were killed by Russian-backed separatists in Eastern Ukraine. The U.S. and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have voiced support for Ukraine while also condemning the rebels actions. The Ukrainian-Russian conflict has resurfaced due to multiple factors including sanctions on powerful leaders, banning pro-Russian TV stations, and some even speculate testing president Biden on foreign policy.
There has also been widespread criticism of President Putin through critic Alexei Navalny and other political activists. Alexei Navalny is a Russian opposition leader who was recently secretly poisoned on an airplane in an effort to sabotage his campaign from exposing lies and corruption within the Russian government. His campaign aims to show how Russia’s government really works and the corruption beneath it. His campaign tells his viewers that Vladimir Putin is the president of Russia who controls and legislates policies. There are also the rich billionaires who control Russias main industries such as oil, gas, and mining. The president and the rich billionaires work together and supply each other with favors through bribes, and this also applies to smaller governments in Russia as well.
The Russian opposition movement has only increased tensions between where the world and even where people stand in terms of siding with Russia or going against the country. The U.S. also has increased tensions with Russia after interference in both the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections.
Many people fear a Third World War with many conflicts ongoing at the same time. If the conflict escalates into a world war, it will most likely allow other countries to take over conflicted lands and expand their borders. This can include China reclaiming Hong Kong and Taiwan, North and South Korea declaring war on each other, and Pakistan and India going to war.
However many people do not believe Russia will go to war with Ukraine. Many critics argue that the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, can not gain much from going to war with Ukraine. Critics also argue that Putin is testing or scaring other countries, and that he doesn’t necessarily want to go to war, but wants to spread attention towards the issue.
With increasing tensions between Russia and the U.S., and issues that have caused rebellions, there are many problems within Russia that are not being heard or told. These issues are very important for the well being of humanity given that Russia is a world power that has a lot of influence in the world. Many people have not even heard about this issue or have forgotten about it. Not knowing about what is going around the world also exemplifies how people may not pay attention to current news in their country. This can lead to many consequences within a society where people may simply not care, or not care enough about serious issues.