East Stroudsburg University panel discusses invasion of Ukraine

Local experts brought context to an international crisis on Tuesday evening, as East Stroudsburg University’s political science department held a panel discussion on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Professors Kenneth Mash, Johan Eliasson and Ko Mishima spoke on everything from economic effects to how the American people and the Western media view the war. Department chair Samuel Quainoo served as the moderator.

The archived event is available for viewing at esu.edu/live-events/.

Support for Ukraine quickly rose

“It seems to me just yesterday that I would be correcting people all the time as they referred to it as ‘the Ukraine,’ which it stopped calling itself after the Soviet Union and just called itself Ukraine,” Mash said.

But polls now show that “Americans are viewing Ukraine with same kind of affection that they do Germany and France,” he continued. “This is a tremendous change in attitude towards another country.”

That even extends to strong, bipartisan approval for a no-fly zone over Ukraine, Mash said — even though, as he later noted in response to a question about such a zone, that step would require a willingness to shoot down planes, which “might be what pushes us towards World War III.”

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Western media is viewing this invasion differently

Mash recommended watching a clip from “The Daily Show” that compiled journalists talking about the war in Ukraine differently than other conflicts.

“These are prosperous, middle-class people,” one man says, over video of refugees waiting to board trains out of Ukraine. “These are not people trying to get away from areas in North Africa. They look like any European family that you would live next door to.”

Mash said that “this is an opportunity, when this is over, for us to re-examine what we do, how we handle things, and how we treat people around the world, not just people who look like us.”

People in the U.S. generally get their news in English, Eliasson said, which has a Western perspective.

“That is not a defense in any way. It’s not a justification. But it’s an explanation of where we stand,” Eliasson said.

He also noted that an invasion of one country by another has “very different legal obligations and punishments than civil wars, internal wars.”

The world won't denuclearize as a result

Countries will reassess, Mash said, in response to a question about whether the world might rethink nuclear weapons “but nothing will be done about it.”

In fact, nuclear weapons may look more attractive because of this war, not less. Japan and South Korea, for example, are “now finding the value once again” in having these weapons, Mishima said.

Mash noted that Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons for the promise of European protection. “They gave up the one thing that would probably have saved them through all of this with the promise of protection.”

The world is interconnected, and we’ll feel more effects than high gas prices

“Ukraine and Russia are two of the five largest grain producers in the world,” Eliasson said. Bread prices will rise, and some countries will experiences shortages.

Ukraine is also a major producer of wiring harnesses for vehicles, so “there may very well be stoppages on automobile plants,” he said. That industry is already challenged by a computer chip shortage.

When it comes to oil and gas, the solution is more complicated than simply pumping more oil here, which Eliasson compared to “putting a Band-Aid on open-heart surgery.”

“There are a lot of other energy solutions that are needed,” he added.

The war's outcome is unpredictable

“Everything is up in the air,” said Mishima, who acknowledged that he hadn’t expected such an aggressive move from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

What he’s more certain about is that “whatever happens… will immediately be reflected in the power balance” of the world.

— Kathryne Rubright covers politics in northeast Pennsylvania and is based at the Pocono Record. Reach her at krubright@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: ESU panel discusses inflation related to invasion of Ukraine