Understanding Ukraine
I am trying to understand the situation in Ukraine and our government’s response. All the news says that Russia wants to invade Ukraine. They have thousands of troops on Ukraine’s border. Our government’s response seems to be that we won’t send U.S. troops, but are sending weapons. We won’t give in to Russia’s demands; the main one being that Ukraine not join NATO, a military alliance aimed at Russia. NATO says it can not give up the right to admit any country that wants to join.
Starting with what seems obvious: If Russia invades, Ukraine will be overrun very quickly, and a pro-Russian government will be installed. So the U.S. will end up with what it seemingly does not want: a formerly pro-Western democracy turned into a Russian puppet state. Certainly not one that will join NATO.
Other obvious points:
Ukraine is of no or little strategic importance to the U.S. The U.S. and NATO have survived without it for a long time. We have Russia pretty well surrounded with troops and weapons from the Baltic States to Turkey. (We might consider how we would feel if the U.S. were surrounded by Russian troops and missiles.)
Europe already has other neutral or non-NATO countries in Sweden, Finland, Austria, Switzerland, and others. Of these, Finland has a long border with Russia as does the Ukraine.
I cannot see what we as a nation have to lose by seriously negotiating with Russia. Wouldn’t keeping Ukraine as an independent but nonaligned nation be better than subjecting it to war? When the Soviet Union broke up, we assured Russia that NATO would not expand into former Soviet block countries. Since then most of those countries have joined NATO. Are we any more trustworthy than Russia? Peace.
Robert Johnson
Moscow
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An engineer’s code of ethics
I thoroughly enjoyed the letter from Eric Coats (Daily News, Jan. 27) regarding credibility, misinformed rubbish and professionalism. Over a long career as an engineering educator, I heard it said more than once that “those who can: do; those who can’t: teach.”
Generally, this came from a student who was faced with an instructor having no practical experience in the profession of engineering. There are (were?) some who practice as well as teach engineering.
I find it disappointing, even appalling, that in perusing the website of the Washington State University School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, I do not find one faculty member listing registration as a licensed professional engineer, or P.E., in his/her list of qualifications.
I appreciate Coats’ reference to the National Society of Professional Engineers’s Code of Ethics.
The discipline-specific engineering societies, American Society of Mechanical Engineers in particular, have codes of ethics which, while not word for word, encompass those of NSPE. Perhaps (Daily News columnist Chuck) Pezeshki would be well-advised to review the ASME Code of Ethics, P-15.7, 2/1/12.
David V. Hutton
Pullman
