The Crisis in Ukraine

The crisis in Ukraine is very worrisome. A worst outcome is war between the US and Russia. I am heartened that Ukraine is finally acting on its threats to retake its public buildings in the East. Empty threats embolden the separatists. I hope that Russia does not see this as provocation for further escalation or at worst full scale invasion.

If I were US president, I would tell Russia that further provocation would result in new strong sanctions:

• All Russian government employees would be barred from travel to the US except members of the Russian UN, embassy, and consulate delegations - and these allowed into the US only on a case by case basis
• All members of the Russian armed forces and members of the separatist militias in Ukraine would be barred from travel to the US
• All financial transactions made in rubles would be barred from US regulated banks except money returned to US accounts
• All US financial accounts would be barred from transferring money to Russian bank accounts and any non-Russina bank accounts where the funds are in rubles

I would also propose the following military activities:

• Send small arms and humanitarian supplies such as food, medical, etc. to the Ukrainian armed forces
• Send small artillery to the Ukrainian armed forces
• Send an aircraft carrier into the Black Sea
• Restart talks with Poland concerning missile defenses
• Ask congress to appropriate funds to build two new aircraft carriers
• Ask the Secretary of Defense to reorganize the armed forces for better projection of power rather than having military bases all over the world