Perhaps the best conflict manager is someone who is not directly involved but has a bird’s-eye view of the situation.

The disputes in Russia and Ukraine clearly cannot be settled internally, so we now must call upon the next best perspective for a resolution.

Step aside, President Barack Obama. Failed vice presidential candidate and amateur Russia-watcher Sarah Palin has it under control. She even told CNN, “I told ya so,” referring to a 2008 comment about the potential for crisis between the Ukraine and Russia.

South Carolina Republican Senator and part-time eye-roller Lindsey Graham told CNN that his eyes roll frequently at the president’s comments toward “thugs and dictators.” Graham ridiculed the recent plan to decrease the military, saying it was counterintuitive to the modernization of our forces and would drain our resources if we were to engage in a conflict.

I don’t want to be the hitch in their giddy-up, but all fortune telling aside, “I told ya so,” doesn’t quite send a strong, decisive message. Again, not to be a Debbie Downer, but the president isn’t speaking quite as loosely as Graham alluded to.

In a statement released by the White House, Obama assured that any undertakings in the situation in Crimea would be in conjunction with our European and other international allies. Obama’s warnings to Russian President Vladimir Putin were not threats, weightless or without international support.

At a time when a nation’s sovereignty, borders and citizens are under pressures from powerful and driven forces, it is imperative to approach the matter with as much concern and contemplation as possible. If we have learned anything since the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, it is that we have to put on our big-boy pants, act in a timely and informed process and display a fair level of diplomacy.

We are at a point in our history where we can learn a valuable lesson. As two tiring wars come to a close we must put to the test a less violent and extreme method of negotiation. The involvement with our allies coupled with our slightly shrunken military will allow us to focus on a new direction.

And we need a direction, not powered by the number of our weapons, but by the civic duty to all human life. The smaller numbers in our military will be forced to work alongside our allies in a tighter relationship.

Work together? Yes. That means we join the world instead of trying to lead the world.

The situation in Crimea is indeed dire and the people are in need of support. But we must do so without military actions.

Dewey Mullis, a junior criminal justice major from Wallburg, is an opinion writer.