When I picked up a shirt with that quote on it, I had no idea how quickly it would become too poignantly relevant to the world we live in.

To begin, if you are in Ukraine right now you do not need a visa to seek asylum in Poland. Bring your passport, and go. Poland has been preparing for an influx of refugees as best it can.

If you are not in Ukraine, please consider donating to places like The International Rescue Committee to make sure your money is going to help the most civilians as possible.

There is a lot going on right now, and it is an extremely complicated situation. I hope I can help shed a little light on the back story that led to where we are today in as short a summary as I can.

What is NATO and what was the Warsaw Pact?

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was signed in 1949 by 12 member nations (the UK, France, the US, Canada, Italy, Portugal, Denmark, Iceland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg) for military defense and economic partnership. By 1955, Germany joined NATO.

At this point, the Cold War was already underway. With Germany joining, that meant there was a potentially militarized zone on the direct border of a Soviet Union controlled territory of East Germany. In 1955, the Warsaw Pact was signed (between the Soviet Union, East Germany, Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, and Romania). Both the Warsaw Pact and NATO have agreements with their respective member countries to come to the defense of each other if they are attacked.

Who were the members of the Soviet Union?

The USSR comprised 15 member states: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belorussia, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirgizya, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

The End of the Warsaw Pact

The Warsaw Pact was withdrawn in 1991, and by 1992 the Soviet Union had fallen. From the perspective of NATO and much of the West, this was an excellent move forward at the end of the Cold War. For Russia, it was one more imperial fall from grace. A fall made harder when NATO welcomed all of the Warsaw Pact member countries as well as several newly independent former Soviet Union states.

NATO has ballooned from 13 members in 1955, to 30. 30 members within a militarized defense pact sitting along Russian borders. It is hard to tell Russia that not a single member of these 30 countries means to do them any harm. It’s hard to believe your enemies, even if they’re telling the truth.

Ukraine

Now, add in the imperialism of Russian history, an egomaniac like Putin, and another former USSR country on Russia’s border aiming to enter NATO and you get the Crimean War and Annexation of 2014. The tepid response from NATO leads us directly to today.

I don’t know what the right answer to this is. Ukraine has the right to self-determination. Russians shouldn’t have to live under the threat of NATO missiles next door. NATO countries shouldn’t have to live under the threat of Russian invasion.

Whatever happens, a third world war is not the answer. Support the Russian civilians who are protesting this unjust war. Support the Ukrainians trying to stay alive and protect their homes and families. And support the countries and charities taking in refugees. Look to the helpers. Violence isn’t the answer.

L.J.