Confrontation!

 This is coolbert:

Thanks once more to Strategy Page and Colonel Austin Bay we have commentary and suggestions as to not necessarily resolve the Crimean situation but rather as further measures to counter what is now perhaps correctly perceived as Russian expansionism in eastern Europe and hegemony of same.

"On Point"

"Options for Confronting Putin's Three Cold Facts" by [Colonel] Austin Bay March 18, 2014

"The legacy of aggression, annexation and expansion by a major European power is mass slaughter across the Continent and, in the 20th century, global war."

"Russian hard-power aggression, annexation and expansion require a hard-power response. Here are some I recommend: (1) We can't flip-flop NATO Article 5, NATO's commitment to mutual defense. The U.S. must demonstrate it takes its NATO obligations seriously. So, deploy U.S. troops to Poland. The U.S. withdrew its last tanks from Germany in 2013. The Poland garrison needs a U.S. armor brigade. (2) Cancel all defense budget cuts. Faculty club snark aside, peace through strength means something. (3) Open federal lands to natural gas 'fracking' and start shipping gas to Europe. Undermining Russian gas sales is a real economic sanction. (4) Arm the Baltic nations. They are also NATO allies. And (5) deploy the GBI's to Poland, and build a more robust missile defense system. As for permanently deploying U.S. Patriot PAC-3 short-range anti-missile missiles in Poland -- that's an idea whose time has come."

Those Baltic nations in particular very wary of the Russian and only several days ago Vice President Biden having made a special trip to the area, assurances given of NATO and American support.  Latvia most of all having a large and restive Russian-speaking population! Letts beware!

In 1939 it was the Danzig Corridor, Lebensraum. In 2014 it can be described as what exactly?

Such actions as advocated by Colonel Bay bound to create hostility in some quarters. ONLY it will be thought dumping gasoline on the fire and creating agitation where cooler heads need to prevail?

coolbert.