The sounds of bombs crashing have filled the air as the state of war in Ukraine varies from day to day. However, it is not just Ukraine going through this, but many eastern and southern countries around the world too.

In Article 5 of The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO, it states that any nation under the organization gets attacked, the other countries in NATO must aid them in their war. This was created to help nations in keeping global peace. Ukraine, along with the United States and many other nations are a part of NATO which requires nations like the U.S. to aid them. AP Government teacher, Amanda Mitchell, believes that especially since it has to do with Russia, the war has gained a lot of attention due to people’s fears.

“The reason why this gained so much attention was due to the fact that Russia’s our largest nemesis. I think that after watching what Vladimir Putin did in Crimea, people became afraid. Considering that fear, what he’s doing with Ukraine brings more fear because of Article Five from NATO. If he keeps moving further into the countries that are part of NATO, then we will end up getting into a much larger problem,” said Mitchell.

Another reason that would lead the U.S. to becoming more involved in the issue in Ukraine is the resources that could be at stake. That is what leads to the differences between the other parts of the world and the west when it comes to what countries gain so much attention in these situations. Senior, Faith Castles, believes that if it does not benefit the U.S., they should not get into all the issues that occur around the world.

“The U.S has important resources that are in Ukraine which causes them to worry more. They become more included and the war is definitely more of a business war. Compared to eastern nations, it doesn’t benefit the U.S. as much which leads them to not involve themselves with those issues,” said Castles.

Not only has the war received a lot of news coverage, but it also has gained a lot of attention on social media due to it being one of the few wars that occurred during an era where social media platforms were used the most. With that in mind, compared to other global issues, social media was not used enough to gain the same attention. Senior, Noah Nurse, believes that the constant coverage has helped the war out a lot but with social media covering so much, it also hurts them.

“The constant coverage of the war in Ukraine was certainly helpful in galvanizing the world to send aid and weapons to them, but coverage of domestic issues fell by the wayside. However, I believe social media affected the coverage, especially the TikTok videos of soldiers on the ground,” said Nurse.

Compared to other global issues, it was almost clear that Ukraine had a lot of attention. This causes people to consider that it has to do with the fact Ukraine is a part of the west, a European nation, leading it to be a White majority. Senior, Savannah Williams, feels like western nations get a lot more attention due to the inferiority complex that society has created against non-western nations.

“When it’s the U.S. and Europe they cover the issue a lot and even manage to get help extremely easily. In Latin America and Africa they leave them to hold their own since they aren’t major world powers and most of the other countries look at them as inferior. As for Asia, they hold down their issues well themselves, but they don’t get as much attention as the west does,” said Williams.

With all that is going on in the west and all of the coverage it has received, the fears that it has to do with some type of preference people have for the west continues to grow. They believe that other nations deserve the same type of attention, which has somehow become so difficult to get.