It might be good to have the nice young men in the clean white coats pick up Sen. Lindsey Graham and sideline him until the crisis is past. NATO is not going to strangle Russia and the idea of bringing Georgia into NATO is certifiably insane to anybody who can read a map or a history book.
Perhaps we could issue rifles to all the politicians who wish to shed blood over the territorial integrity of Ukraine and start them training. While they are out of the way, here are things we can and can’t do to save Ukraine from Soviet Union 2.0.
My proposal appears below the fleur-de-kos.
1. There is no military solution within reason. That is, a military price we are willing to pay fighting with the soldiers without uniform patches in the Crimea. See Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Charge of the Light Brigade, for how stupid stupid can get.
2. There is no economic solution that the US can impose unilaterally. Our economic ties with Russia are insufficient to inflict enough pain, quickly enough.
3. Therefore, we need the EU—which does have such economic ties—willing to bear the burdens that will fall on them if they disrupt those ties. Not doing business with Russia would certainly hurt the fragile crony capitalism of Russia much more than it would hurt the EU, but we cannot be blind to the costs, starting with spikes in gas and oil prices just as EU economies are getting back on the rails.
4. As a matter of practicality, the US and US allies are in a position to provide gas and oil at reasonable prices. Unfortunately, the overdue decision to outfit US ports to export LNG can’t be implemented quickly enough to be part of this calculus, but it’s one more reason to complain about not having that export capacity.
5. Call an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. That’s what it’s for...but is it not hamstrung by a Russian veto? Were that to happen to the resolution I’m going to suggest, it would hang a big hypocrite sign around Vladimir Putin’s neck in world opinion and it would certainly stiffen the EU’s spine if anything would.
6. Introduce a resolution for a Security Council police action in the Ukraine. The initial draft would say no Russian troops, but that’s for horse-trading purposes. The whereas clauses in the resolution should be taken word for word from the justifications for sending Russian troops set out by Mr. Putin in the Russian parliament and in his public statements. That is, the stated role of the UN troops will be to protect ethnic Russians and their property and to maintain public order pending new elections. Should Russia veto that, they look like hypocritical clowns.
7. While we are at the Security Council, we should also file suit in the Permanent International Court of Justice against Russia based on violation of the multilateral border security treaty signed by Ukraine, Russia, the US and the UK. This will go slowly, but it's one more bargaining chip.
8. We must make no diplomatic moves that neglect to give Mr. Putin a safe line of retreat. That includes all the chest-pounding currently being demanded of Mr. Obama.
9. If the UN police action is approved, we let the blue helmets handle it.
10. If not, we use the Russian veto to leverage Russia out of the G8 and persuade the EU nations to freeze Russian assets. Always leaving Mr. Putin a path out the way he came with no gloating or grandstanding in Washington.
That’s my prescription for dealing with the Ukraine crisis spending no American lives and very little American money.
Now, I would like to hear what the chest-pounders would do, assuming anybody with a three digit IQ was not impressed with Sen. Graham’s idea to fashion a NATO noose around Russia.