As U.S. ponders next moves on Crimea, experts rethink NATO’s defense posture
In the weeks since the Ukraine crisis began, culminating in Tuesday’s decision by Russia to annex Crimea, President Vladimir Putin has ignored every gauntlet the United States and its European allies have laid down. The challenge now facing the Obama administration is whether any measures it is prepared to take can deter Russia from moving beyond Crimea into the rest of Ukraine.
Those measures range from freezing the assets of additional individuals, senior officials and companies, beyond the handful of Russians sanctioned earlier this week, to Iran-style banking and export restrictions, according to current and former administration officials.
The administration was publicly silent about its plans Tuesday, promising new sanctions but not saying what it was preparing or when it would act. European Union leaders are scheduled to consider their own response on Thursday.
But Russia’s audacious moves have already led to a rethinking of the defense posture that has dominated the Western alliance since the end of the Soviet Union nearly a quarter-century ago.
More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/as-us-ponders-next-moves-on-crimea-experts-rethink-natos-defense-posture/2014/03/18/6cb89b60-aecd-11e3-9627-c65021d6d572_story.html
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hafta blow stuff up so it can be rebuilt so the owners of companies that make stuff that blows up and stuff that rebuilds stuff can become billionaires(<3 capitalism)
. fear of "the outsiders" has been used since feudal times to justify serfdom to the noble "protector" class. We always need an "outsider" or "enemy". Teh Mooslims aren't cuttin it anymore for many reasons. it will be interesting to see where this goes. Putin isn't stupid. Headstrong and impetuous maybe but not stupid.
