SUMMARY
New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart join Amna Nawaz to discuss the week in politics as Ukraine marks two years of war with Russia, American support for aid to the country is wavering on partisan battle lines and Biden's potential moves on immigration policy.
View the transcript of the story.
News alternative: Check out recent segments from the NewsHour, and choose the story you’re most interested in watching. You can make a Google doc copy of discussion questions that work for any of the stories here.
Key terms
asylum — legal protection granted by a nation to refugees who face political violence or other concerns in their countries of origin
Napoleonic Wars — a series of conflicts fought between the First French Empire under Napoleon and many European nations
WARM UP QUESTIONS
- Who are the different individuals and groups discussed in the video?
- What are the Taiwanese worried about?
- Why is President Biden "weighing some very harsh immigration tactics"?
- How does U.S. military aid help Ukraine? How much money has the U.S. given to Ukraine since the start of the war? See these charts by the Council on Foreign Relations.
- When did the war start? Why did Russia invade Ukraine?
FOCUS QUESTIONS
Why do you think the U.S. is faltering in support of Ukraine? Do you think support for Ukraine is important to U.S. interests?
Media literacy:
1. Read this part of the story one more time: David Brooks: "It seemed like it was universally accepted that defending Ukraine was in our national interest. Even today, 74 percent of Americans think defending Ukraine is in our national interest."
Ask students: Who are the nearly 1/4 of Americans who do not believe defending Ukraine is in America's national interest? Why do you think they might think this? Can you find the statistic that Brooks is referring to?
2. How can you find out more about the U.S. relations with Ukraine?
Alternative: See, Think, Wonder: What did you notice? What did the story make you think? What would you want to find out more about?
FOR MORE
What students can do:
Watch the Student Reporting Labs video and answer the following question: How did political cartoons shape the political landscape in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries?
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