[Attention Surplus Disorder]

There is no way any piddly force can have the slightest effect on anything Vlad might decide to do. To think NATO can plop a small force down in the middle of such a vicious civil war is a mistake that has been made by external powers dozens and dozens of times and it has never, ever worked. I don’t see anything at all the West can do wrt the Ukraine other than these semi-sanctions...and that would go for *any* US president. There’s nothing we can do there. It’s somebody else’s backyard, and we may or may not like what is going on there, but nothing we can do will affect the outcome.

[Tailgunner Joe]

You're completely wrong. We prevented Putin from occupying Tblisi in 2008 just by sending a few ships to the Black Sea. Putin will back down if we show resolve. Russians like to bully their weaker neighbors but when it comes to fighting the USA, the Russian cowards run away.

[pierrem15]

Nonsense. There's already a lot we could have done, short of mobilizing an armored division and sending it to Ukraine, like SOF, anti-aircraft defenses, manpads, Javelins, TOW's, etc.

In brief, give the Ukrainians a chance to cause so much pain to the Russians that they leave.

The policy you are recommending (and Obama is following) will simply be perceived as cowardice, inviting more aggression, not only by Russia but also China.

[servantboy777]

>>It’s somebody else’s backyard, and we may or may not like what is going on there, but nothing we can do will affect the outcome.<<

Agree and disagree.

It is indeed someone else’s backyard. The Europeans need to muster up the forces necessary to counter a Ruskie advance.

Where I disagree is that there is nothing we could do that will affect the outcome.

Even though this dumb@$$ in the white house has cut our forces, we are a superior fighting force to Russia. If Obozo had the go-nads, we could stop the advance.