THE
Daily Egyptian SERVING THE SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY SINCE 1916.
DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2022
VOL. 105, ISSUE 8
The ‘wired’ war
Reactions from the digital front
Annie Hammock ahammock@dailyegyptian.com
While Russian aggression has so far been limited to the boundaries of Ukraine, the world’s most recent war is being fought in a new way on a new front: the digital territory. Conservative political commentator Thomas L. Friedman calls it “World War Wired - the first war in a totally interconnected world.” Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has taken to Facebook video to plead with Russian citizens to denounce their own leader’s actions and to appeal for understanding and peace. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media sites are filled with images in the “strong azure” and yellow of the Ukrainian flag, indicating thoughts and prayers are with the besieged nation across the globe. Here in Carbondale and the surrounding area, the sentiments are much the same. But the responses are much more complex than the ubiquitous statement “I stand with Ukraine.” The Daily Egyptian posted a question to its own Facebook page and the WTF Carbondale page asking people to share their thoughts. The responses are filled with condemnation of Russian President Vladimir Putin. They use words like “thug,” “war criminal” and “megalomaniac.” Please see WAR | 2
Seth Martin | @seth.mart
Russia is the bad guy, and I’m tired of pretending it isn’t
William Box | @William17455137
Since December of 2021, information has been released by sources in both the American and Ukrainian governments to the international press regarding Russian intentions to exert its dominance over Ukraine. Since the release of the first reports, the world has watched with bated breath as Russia turned down the idea of peaceful negotiation in favor of outrageous demands he knew would not be granted by the European Union (EU) and its allies within the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). While these negotiations were taking place, thousands of Russian troops began massing on the Ukrainian border and began building infrastructure like
supply depots and field hospitals. Putin has additionally expressed in his own writings on the Kremlin’s official website detailing in exhaustive fashion the historical and cultural links between modern Russia and Ukraine and blaming the lack of “spiritual unity” on a change of identity forced on them by NATO-allied forces following the fall of the Soviet Union (USSR). Many here in the U.S. are unfamiliar with the precipitating events that led to the conflict. While the history of the two nations stretches back across centuries, the seeds of the current conflict were first planted with the fall of the USSR in 1991, establishing the modern nations of Russia and Ukraine.
An NPR report by staff writer Becky Sullivan on the history of the two nations summarizes the precipitating events and provides context for the current crisis. Ukraine gave its nuclear stockpile, leftover from the Soviet era, to Russia in exchange for a recognition of territorial sovereignty in 1996. Since the dissolution of the USSR, Russia and NATO have fought for influence within the region. As the population protested, rebelled and later overthrew the post-Soviet regime in favor of a pro-NATO government, Russians exerted pressure on Ukrainian leaders and annexed the Crimean peninsula in March 2014 after labeling the revolutionary government illegitimate.
When the Russian annexation concluded, the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donbas and Luhansk declared their independence after Russian-supported rebel forces captured their governing capitals, citing a desire to maintain closer ties with Russia. The fighting led to the signing of the Minsk Agreement, which was intended to act as a ceasefire, but fell apart in less than a year, reigniting the fighting in eastern Ukraine. A second peace deal, known as the Minsk II Agreement was signed in 2015, but it too fell through and fighting has continued in the region since. Please see RUSSIA | 3
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