Ukraine: The Superbowl of 2014

In the last blog, we reported on President Obama's unilateral termination of the Polish-Czech missile shield as a sign of goodwill to President Putin.  With the invasion of Ukraine, Mr. Obama's reversal of that decision would now communicate strength and resolve.

So here are 7 more plays for the Superbowl of the current Geo-Political World:  East vs. West, with Ukraine as the prize.  Sure, some are Hail Mary passes, but others may have real merit.  That's the beauty of being an arm-chair quarterback - it's all speculation.

1)  New American laws allow the U.S. to freeze financial accounts of Russians who do business with companies accused of human rights abuses.

2)  Deploy NATO ships to the Black Sea and the Baltic and F-22 jets to Poland.  This should tweak Mr. Putin's nose.

3)  Super-rich Russian oligarchs frequently travel to the E.U. and U.S.  Put them on a no-fly list, isolate them, put pressure on their buddy Vladimir.

4)  Eject Russia from the World Trade Organization, hit their trade relations.

5)  Expel Russia from the G8 (the top 8 industrialized countries - Russia joined in 1998.)

6)  President Putin's grand plan is to expand Russia's sphere of influence (much like Stalin's Soviet Union).  Offer Ukraine immediate membership in NATO and then work on joining the E.U.

7)  Since much of Russia's prosperity depends on gas exports to Europe, President Obama should promote the sale of U.S. gas to the E.U. to fill the void.

So there it is - some big plays from a little spectator on the sidelines.  But whatever you do, Mr. Obama, don't simply watch and do nothing.  If you drop the ball now, you put the team on defense - and that's no way to score a touchdown.