Alexa Thein source 5

This week I wanted to look into Putins motives for wanting to annex Crimea. This will be helpful in seeing Russias point of view and their side of things. I would also like to see some external viewpoints on the United States involvement and what other countries, specifically Crimea and Russia, think of us as a nation. 

Braun, Aurel. "Tougher Sanctions Now." World Affairs 177.2 (2014): 32-44. EBSCOhost. Web. 11 Mar. 2015.

This article talks about how to understand the situation we really need to understand Putin and his thought process. The articles goes on to say that "in the crimea and ukraine, Putin may be acting out of a certain disori- entation as a result of the definitive nature of the Maidan movement’s rejection of his eurasian union, which he felt he had secured by alliance with the now decamped Yanukovych government in Kyiv, and its strong embrace of the european union’s eastern Partnership. without ukraine, Putin has little hope of rebuilding the russian empire and once again attaining superpower status." This is a very helpful sentence, as it shows more insight into Putins viewpoint and what he thinks. The article also talks about how what Putin is doing is wrong and how western involvement is needed now as much as it was in the beginning of the conflict. Putins actions are a long term threat to international institutions and America can't let that happen. 

I really liked this article and thought it made some good points. It was a lot like the article I read last week, but it seemed to have some more factual evidence to support its reasoning and not just opinions. American involvement has been less than ideal throughout this entire situation and Putin seems to just be getting away with what ever he wants. My viewpoint on the issue is the same as last week, in that I believe the United States need to use its force as a global leader to. It isn't cool of Putin to do this, and it breaks so many commitments and truces that Putin previously had with Crimea. In a perfect world, this kind of annexation would never happen and the United States would never have to get involved in other countries conflicts. But, this is likely to never happen and until we reach global peace someone needs to stand up to the bully (Russia) in support of the underdog (Ukraine)

This author would very much agree with the author from the article I read last week, in saying that Putin doesn't get to get away with this so someone has to step in. While last weeks article used more opinion based reasoning, this article used facts and examples to show that Putin is in the wrong. This author would very much disagree with some of the other articles I read, that talked about why US involvement isn't necessary and how we should let them work out their own problems. Where as this article says that we, as a nation, can't let Putin get away with something so illegal, other articles I have read talk about how the global leaders need to let Crimea decide for themselves where they want to go next. It may be true that they had an election that said they wanted to join Russia, but should we really let this be the reason we allow another world leader to annex part of another country?

I plan on doing further research, as I obviously still need a book. I found a book but wasn't able to get ahold of it. It is about a broader global policy and how involvement can lead to wars and conflicts lasting longer than expected.