Warning signs: Disturbances in Ukraine are reason for world to take notice

With so much going on in this country, it seems like there simply isn't time to worry about anything else happening across the globe.

But there is and we should -- before it is too late.

Few people are fooled by the machinations that are going on in the Ukraine. They see the hand of the Russian president Vladimir Putin, and they know that the unrest in that nation is an orchestrated maneuver to get control without getting his hands dirty.

And while the violence continues, and Ukrainians wonder what might be next, one has to wonder, "Is there reason to be really concerned about what could come next?"

The answer is "yes."

Political bullies don't like to lose control. They do not like revolutions and they like bursts of freedom even less. Of course Putin does not want to see Ukrainian sovereignty -- as much because of ego as anything else.

And if we are going to be world leaders, and to stand up for those who are fighting for their freedom, now is our chance.

We messed up this response and the negotiations with the Russian president in the first place. He knows we are weak. Our president took care of that.

Now it is time to let him know that he cannot walk all over us and the rest of the world. It is time to show strength to prevent escalation.

It is time to be the nation we were before the "new" foreign policy took over Washington.

There are times to be firm and times to bend.

This is the former.

And we need to take swift action as a nation, before it is too late for the balance of world power and the people of the Ukraine.

Published in Editorials on May 12, 2014 11:28 AM