Hard to determine these days when our favorite sources of news and information are at odds with each other over the continuing war in the Ukraine. Objective sources (hopefully) have shown images and shared news of the usual horrors that mankind is capable of inflicting upon each other. Too often the battle lines are drawn and the fighting begins before we know the whole story. When missiles and bullets fly, it isn’t too difficult to determine who is firing and who is suffering.

The horrors of war were supposed to be lessons for all of mankind to learn from and with economies all over the world intertwined in each others success; things like this weren’t supposed to happen — or so we were told. Governments intertwined in the business of getting ahead afforded many people a certain amount of influence in relation to their particular governmental authority. The USA spent some serious time in the Ukraine; enough that even relatives of pretty important government officials were afforded positions of influence and had some hefty compensation packages.

Sticking our nose into the affairs of another country is always a complex narrative to explain unless of course the country is perpetrating some pretty horrific crimes against humanity (WWII) or the governments that are in charge are not living up to the established borders that had been agreed upon (Vietnam/Korea) or the leaders went rogue and had to be stopped for the good of the region and the world (Iraq/Afghanistan) or people were just being abused and mistreated and are crying out for help (Ukraine).

So, short of skyrocketing fuel prices here in America and around the world, our leaders seem tepid about getting too involved in matters between the Russians and Ukrainians. It’s a different world that we find ourselves in when our leaders brandish strong words without much of a sharp edge. Our intertwined economies mean that punishing one country with economic sanctions will certainly end up making other countries pay a certain price as well (gas and food prices). We are all in this together it seems, like it or not, and we have to figure out if leaders we are trying to deal with are just lying to us about their intentions or have become unhinged and are making one last play to exert some kind of influence on the region or world based on some historical grudge or misguided view of how things should be.

Who is to say except that it’s obvious something needs to happen soon to re-establish stability in the world, not just because we want cheaper gas and food but we all need to understand that one bad actor generally emboldens others, and that is what scares people the most.