Casus belli. A Latin phrase for ‘an act of situation provoking or justifying war’, casus belli. The word has been seen throughout time and history a disgustingly large amount of times as many have ‘justified reasons’ for declaring war against other nations. However, in recent years we have not been forced to hear this phrase or its many relatives as there have been no conflicts growing between nations. As it stands today though we are witnesses to major power nations and when said countries are ruled over by a madman who craves nothing but power and supposed former ‘glory and strength’, our likelihood to see conflicts are raised tenfold. As witnesses we were horrified to find that on February 24, 2022, the super power that is Russia launched a full-scale invasion against the country of Ukraine. Russia’s conflict with Ukraine is sadly nothing new as on multiple occasions the larger country bullied the other in disgusting acts. 

Unfortunately, the first time Ukraine had been covered by Russia’s shadow was also intertwined with a crazed dictator. Under Stalin’s grip in the 1930’s, a majority of Ukrainian farmland and harvest was forcefully confiscated and as a result the nation saw a famine that killed an estimated 4 million people. Luckily enough, Ukraine was able to negotiate its freedom as the Soviet Union crumbled in 1991, however unluckily for the country they still had a majority of their population with deep Russian roots in the eastern part of the new country. Woefully for the nation of Ukraine and its citizens this would be used against them in Vladmir Putin’s first invasion of the eastern location of the country in 2014. In a similar ‘justification’ for invading the country, as he used in his current acts in 2022, Putin stated that the invasion was merely to defend the ethnic Russian group, who belonged to the eastern Donbas region, that did not agree with Ukraine’s new adapting pro Western government. Putin’s forces showed much too strong for Ukraine to go against and they were able to unilaterally annex the Crimean Peninsula. Although internationally the annexation of the Peninsula is not recognized, the Russian country has controlled the area since 2014. In 2015 this proxy war simmered down and a peace treaty was struck up, the battling raged on however and an estimated 14,000 people were sadly collateral damage according to the Ukrainian government. 

Quid pro quo. Another latin phrase, in which it’s defined as something or an act in return for something or an act. This seems to be Putin’s current mentality as he is seeking former glory,  while in return we witness bloodshed on both sides, pleas of help from Ukraine, and its citizens and people across the globe in utter horror as Putin continues his act. The Russian strongman leader has also given his statement that N.A.T.O should not expand further eastward of his borders, threatening a larger conflict with the organized  multiple nations. Vladmir Putin’s mindset seems to be pushing that he wants to restore his country to its previous ‘national greatness’, in which we saw countries fearing its authority. However this is not a new mindset as Putin has been hungry to restore its country’s greatness since 1991, in which a 39 year old Putin saw the Soviet Union collapse which he saw as a tragedy. Tensions were raised as far back as January, 2022 as Ukraine was beginning to grow as a more independent nation, the second largest country on the continent. Putin’s worry was that if Ukraine had enjoyed complete freedom, then the desire to get its own freedom would rise in the powered nation, possibly causing an uprising. What people seem to misremember or not at all acknowledge is that Ukraine is not a member of N.A.T.O and at this time the country and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have come to understand that the opportunity to become one is out of the question. Without the help from the international organization, Ukraine has been forced to go against the super nation that is Russia on its own terms.

Although this is not a full picture of why Russia invaded Ukraine, hopefully it gives more insight into the major situation that is currently happening just across seas. The warring continues on to this day and tragically we are seeing thousands of deaths in Ukraine as Russian forces continue to press forward into Ukrainian cities such as Mariupol, Kyiv, and Kharkiv to name a few. Today, April 12, 2022, Russian authorities have been arresting activists and contributors against Putin. United States of America President, Joe Biden, made a statement concerning the situation and used the term ‘genocide’, which people across the globe most likely agreed its usage as ~14,000 are reported casualties by the nation’s government. May we all realize that no matter the ‘justification’ or reasoning behind war and conflicts between countries, people, races, and other separations of people, it is not enough to justify violence. Violence as a whole is a corrupt part of human nature that sadly will never end unless we bring enough attention to its harm and wrong doings.