Ukraine (closed; covers till August 2014)

[carl]

Boy do I get tired of hearing about how limited the options for the US are.
Here are some from the top of my head, large numbers of which come from Firn and Outlaw 09.

1. Tell the Poles and the Czechs the missile defense system is back on.

2. Put an entire squadron of F-22s and supporting tankers in Poland next week, permanently. EF-18s too.

3. Rescind landing rights for any Russian airplanes in the US. Stop all flights originating in the US that go into Russia.

4. All visas for entry into the US for all Russians will be stopped. None will be renewed.

4a. Exception to above. Any Russian who has a doctorate in a hard science, engineering, has very extensive experience in those fields or is a physician, will get an automatic green card upon application for one and $40,000 to help them relocate in the US.

5. Start shipping as many ATGMs to the Ukraine as you can put on anything that floats or flies, even the Dragons if they are still around.

6. Do the same thing with any SA-18s we can get hold of. And do the same thing with any of the Libyan SA-24s that we may have picked up.

7. Tell Boeing no more spare parts for aircraft are to be shipped to Russia. Same thing for the engine and avionics makers.

8. Freeze all Russian assets in the US.

9. Put an obvious close tail on every single Russian naval vessel at sea every minute they are at sea.

10. We had better have some intel on how much money Putin himself has overseas and where it is for all the money we spend on intel. Publish it.

11. Tell the oil companies to bring all their guys in Russia home.

12. Tell the oil companies that if they want to apply for a LNG export terminal tomorrow, the approval will come next week.

13. We have M-1 tanks surplus to our needs, maybe Poland and Ukraine would like some.

And on and on. These are things that we can do on our own without the west Europeans. Firn would know of various financial things that we can do on our own. The point is there are a lot of things we can do, if the genii Athenians inside the beltway stop talking themselves into helplessness.

This is very worrying to me. We have three more years of this administration and if they don't stop shoveling they may dig a hole for us so deep we may not get out.

[jmm99]

1. Any or all of the acts you suggest would be better than lofty rhetoric - if no acts are really intended, then our Beltway should STFU.

2. Your suggestions beg the question of which EU-NATO states are willing to step up to the military plate - are there any; and, if so, how far are they willing to go ?

3. To what extent does the US provide "matching assets" ? I'd suggest that the EU-NATO inputs into Iraq and Afghanistan would be good precedents for the % of US involvement (a secondary effort, as EU-NATO has been in our two wars) to a European crisis (where EU-NATO should take the lead, not the US). They've helped us out in the very recent past; we should help them to the same extent - reciprocity !

4. If EU-NATO is up to the task of confronting Putin-Ivanov, then it will gain its spurs - perhaps, it then could become the pre-eminent hegemonic power. If it is not up to that task (not taking on the task is the same thing) using primarily its own power and methods, then that is a good thing for Americans to know.

5. I'm willing to be patient and let the EU-NATO hand play out (as Firn suggests). I'd as soon not hear our politicians talk up all the bad things they are going to do to Vlad and his Russkies.

Regards

Mike

PS: here's one for you, Carl - a daymare - three more years + 8 of Billary !!

I also realize that patience is difficult in the face of headlines such as this, Calls to escalate Russia sanctions leave EU in a quandary (by Luke Baker, BRUSSELS Mar 18, 2014):

(Reuters) - Mocked by Moscow, the European Union needs to impose far tougher sanctions over Crimea to make President Vladimir Putin sit up and pay attention, but its ability to agree them is limited - and consensus may not be achievable at all.
...
Some EU foreign ministers quietly agree and are frustrated. They wanted harder-hitting sanctions, but EU restrictions have to be agreed unanimously, which means the measures are only as strong as the country with the deepest reservations will allow.

Austria is among the doubters. "Sanctions don't solve problems," said Chancellor Werner Faymann. "The solution can only be getting to negotiations." ... (much more "quandaries" in story)