[vundy33]

What can we do to stop Russia in Ukraine? There is no action that we can directly short of armed conflict...but no one wants that, so when we don't do that, everyone criticizes our government for being "weak". The U.S. either needs to build a coalition of forces up and directly threaten Russia, or let them by with what they're doing. News broke this morning that they've attacked a Ukrainian ship.

Here is what I think we should do. We can mobilize the Army's 101st Airborne, 82nd Airborne, and 173rd Airborne out of Italy, together with Matines that are already sitting in the Mediterranean. We could get armored units there from our bases all over Europe, as well as both Armor and infantry from our European allies that have enough balls to stand with us. I think that a force like that, one that can jump into Ukraine, tank into Ukraine, and fly over Ukraine would force Putin to backdown, even though he wouldn't want to. It's as simple as that. If Russia wanted to fight, they'd face annihilation. They could not win.

Of course, that course would take us closer to war between major superpowers for the first time in many years. But Russia is using it's military to force one of our allies into submission, not to mention breaking a ton of international laws. Why shouldn't we use our military, the best the world has ever seen, to bully Russia? Some might say you can't bully Russia...but we showed time and time again in the Cold War that if push came to shove, we wouldn't back down but they would. I think that if it got to that point and Putin made the decision to escalate into conflict, that his own government would step in and keep it from happening. They know they can't win, that's why they're using these dirty tactics, like sending their troops into Ukraine with no patches designating their country of origin (illegal, btw).