Tyler White’s capstone political science seminar focused on the return of global power politics wasn’t slated to begin discussing Russia until after spring break.
Then came Feb. 24, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, an independent country of 43 million people that was once a part of the Soviet Union.
White, an assistant professor of practice at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said his students couldn’t help but divert discussion away from China — the topic of the first half of the semester — to the images they were seeing on Twitter and TikTok.
As well as how those images were connecting with the themes and concepts they were learning about in class.
“All of the things we’re talking about are playing themselves out in real time,†White said.
On a sunny Tuesday in a green space just outside of Oldfather Hall on UNL’s City Campus, that discussion continued.
The students roped in the developments of the day — how once-hesitant allies such as Sweden, Finland and Switzerland joined the opposition to Russia’s action — as well as broader themes like the limitations of institutions like the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
They also talked about the skill with which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people have communicated with the rest of the world through social media platforms and had humanized the conflict for a new generation.
Ukrainians have quickly dismantled Russian claims that the invasion was launched with the goal of “de-Nazifying†the country, one student pointed out, and have disabused the notion that the Russian military would quickly take control of its smaller neighbor.
“I feel like all the things we’re seeing from the Ukrainian people is kind of debunking the Russian narrative that they are the hard-asses,†said Kennedy Zuroff, a senior from North Dakota.
White said that older generations — Generation X and even some older millennials — grew up understanding the difference between the freedom of the west, and the totalitarian regimes in the Soviet Union.
For the generation that grew up after 9/11, during the War on Terror, the Great Recession, a global pandemic and political polarization at home, White said the war in Eastern Europe revived those old feelings.
“What you see in Ukraine distilled to its most basic form is that struggle to determine your own future,†he said. “It is well beyond the scope of, ‘I don’t want to wear a mask. I don’t want to get a vaccine.’â€
The political science students also said the conflict was being brought home for them in new ways.
With crippling sanctions being imposed on Russia, many said they expected economic impacts at home, including higher gas prices, even a recession, but said they believed and felt their peers did, too, that it was a price to pay for democracy.
“Two months ago, everyone was taking a picture of the gas pumps, but now that we are taking one for Ukraine, pretty much, there’s no talk about gas,†said Ashton Krebs, a senior from Neligh.
Others said the war in Ukraine had made them realize for the first time how they or their peers might be deployed, or the possibility of a nuclear war.
White, who is the faculty lead for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence Center for Academic Excellence at UNL and has studied nuclear policy and deterrence, said he’s watching how Russia acts in the days and weeks ahead.
He believes the situation will get worse in Ukraine and could spill over into neighboring countries, which would further complicate the conflict.
“I think the tension between the U.S. and Russia is the highest it’s been since 1983 in that respect,†White said in an interview. “There is a non-zero possibility we do end up engaged in some kind of war or conflict with the Russians.â€
White said he believes the U.S. and its partners are going to do everything they can to “steer clear of that.â€
“But that danger does exist.â€
Much of the nuclear saber-rattling done by Russian President Vladimir Putin fits in with his previous actions on the world stage, White said, where the former KGB officer has deployed a doctrine he calls “escalate to deescalate.â€
Often, that includes a reminder that Russia has the world’s largest nuclear arsenal.
A war in Ukraine, where the U.S. and other countries are offering lethal aid, could further escalate the situation, White said.
Intelligence analysts worry Russia could launch a small nuclear weapon on the battlefield to halt the conflict and start negotiations — something that runs counter to the way many think of nuclear escalation.
“The reaction (to the Russian invasion) has been so swift and so universal, he (Putin) might say 'What else do I have to lose?’†White said. “Especially if the Russian economy collapses, or he faces his biggest fear, which is domestic opposition.â€
If Putin chooses that option, how should the U.S. and its partners on the world stage respond? No one, including those in White’s seminar class, has a good answer.
White said agencies like the U.S. Strategic Command are working around the clock to prevent that fear from coming to pass.
“How do we offer him an off-ramp and get him to take it?†White asked. “That’s a really interesting and tricky question.â€
Tyler White, an assistant professor of practice at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, leads a discussion with his political science students centered on the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Tuesday.