COLUMBIA, S.C. — Midlands residents, experts from the University of South Carolina and military personnel were all in one room Tuesday to talk politics - specifically the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
The forum was hosted by USC's Walker Institute and the Columbia World Affairs Council.
"We tried to discuss from our perspective, from our experience in the region, how the different sides are viewing it, what's going on right now and some of the different scenarios for the future," said Steven Austermiller, USC Rule of Law Collaborative deputy executive director.
Meant to inform, this conversation is also important for considering direct effects here in the capital city.
"There's a huge military presence here and the people that are on the bases here, some of them may be called up, there may be reserves in the area that are called up, people may be deployed to eastern Europe," Austermiller said.
That is, if tensions continue to rise.
"Additional sanctions will probably follow if the situation deteriorates even more. That means like the stock market, the price of oil and gas, possibly sanctions against Russian individuals who are invested in the U.S. and elsewhere," Austermiller said.
According to these panelists, the turmoil stems from the Ukraine trying to join NATO, a move in Russia's mind that means more countries staging ground for military action that the west wants to take.
"It's his timeline. He'll get all his pieces in place and then he'll figure it out. Do I want to go? Do I not want to go? And he's trying to see what he can break in the meantime. It's like building up pressure. Can he drive the Ukrainian president out?," said Colonel Robert Peters, chief of security cooperation division.
The next forum on this same topic will be hosted at USC's Hollings library on March 16, 2022 at 3:30 p.m. EST.