Dear Commons Community,

According to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll, few Americans want the United States getting involved in policing the political turmoil in the Ukraine, even though a plurality say they think Russia’s military incursion into the country qualifies as an invasion.

Americans are more likely than not to say that the United States has no responsibility to get involved in Ukraine even under extreme circumstances, the new survey shows. Forty-six percent said the United States has no responsibility to protect Ukraine in the case of a Russian invasion, while only 18 percent said it does. Thirty-six percent said they weren’t sure. Pluralities of Democrats, Republicans and independents agreed that the U.S. does not have a responsibility to protect Ukraine.

This is not surprising given the fiascoes dating back to Vietnam and continuing to the present-day in Afghanistan.  Americans have come to realize that our country is not equipped to support complex entanglements in foreign countries.  In a word, we are not as good at building up other nations as some of the war-hawks in Washington and in the media think we are.

Tony