Well, the West has a range of options short of direct military hostilities. It can arm Ukraine, offer logistical and intelligence support (that toppled the putschists in the Kremilin in 1991), certainly block assets of the putinista in international banks and deny them visas.
The latter, by the way, will hurt them like bitch. Their entire existence is predicated on villas in the mediteranean, American college for the kids, and generally acceptance into the Western polite society. Magnitsky law hurt them in the right spot; it should be expanded.
“...the West has a range of options...”
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Including staying the hell out of it.
Further, NATO must step up its rhetoric for another reason. Ukraine is out of NATO, — lucky for the Alliance, — but Latvie, Estonia and Lithuania are. All three have a sizable Russian minorities that claimed discrimination in the past. All three therefore can offer Putin the same scenario he is playing currently with respect to Ukraine. It would be wise for NATO to pre-empt any fomenting by the Kremlin of ethnic unrest on NATO territory.
>>The latter, by the way, will hurt them like bitch. Their entire existence is predicated on villas in the mediteranean, American college for the kids, and generally acceptance into the Western polite society. Magnitsky law hurt them in the right spot; it should be expanded.
It is probably a nice way to improve a Russian economy. Oligarchs would have to invest at home.