What Are NATO's Military Options To Stop Putin?

Local civilians walk at a train station where Ukrainian tanks are being loaded onto a train in northern Crimea March 27, 2014. Yannis Behrakis/Reuters

Stopping Putin: The Military Option -- Max Strasser, Newsweek

President Barack Obama is getting anxious that Russian president Vladimir Putin is on the point of invading Ukraine.

“You've seen a range of troops massing along [the Russian/Ukraine] border under the guise of military exercises,” he told CBS News last night. “But these are not what Russia would normally be doing. And, you know, it may simply be an effort to intimidate Ukraine. Or it may be that they've got additional plans.”

So far, the West has deployed its economic and diplomatic might to punish and deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from those “additional plans” -- invading the rest of Ukraine.

Yet the West’s strongest option remains untouched: Military action.

Read more ....

My Comment: At this moment in time .... the military options are all bad .... basically a shooting war that would probably spread to other border states. And while I am sure that military options are being drawn up .... on what to do with Ukraine I suspect that the options that are being presented are options that will probably escalate to such a wider conflict. This is uncharted territory .... and one can see this uncertainty by looking at how the West is responding .... talking tough but failing to follow through with tougher measures.