West Struggles as Russia Moves to Dominate Old USSR

I found an interesting article online today that talks about Russia massing troops on the Ukrainian border, and thought it was an interesting read. 

According to NATO, tens of thousands of Russian troops are prepared for a potential invasion of Ukraine, but Western states lack a strategy to prevent the invasion other than using tactics such as sanctions and isolation to put pressure on Moscow. 

Some think that increased pressure may push Putin towards a more conciliatory approach, while others worry that Russia may become more nationalist and self-sufficient, and give Putin more incentive to take a more aggressive, populist approach. 

Experts say that Moscow has been building its influence in security forces, politicians, and government officials in neighboring countries, allowing instability to ramp up and create confusion before the potential invasion.

In a speech made in March, Putin clearly stated that he would be willing to use force in order to safeguard the interests of Russian speaking minorities

There is little political will to stop Russia from going further if it is truly determined to do so. Some say the only catch is that attacking the NATO member Baltic states would trigger NATO's self defense clause and would result in a wider war with the alliance and the United States.

"We are in new territory," one Western official commented. "Realistically there is little the West can do to prevent Putin invading Ukraine or other non-NATO former Soviet states except for applying diplomatic and economic pressure. The priority now is to deter any aggression against NATO."

A move into eastern Ukraine made by the Russians would most likely spark (hopefully limited) military conflict between Russia and Ukraine. How the West would react is far from clear.

In the US, there is little real enthusiasm for direct involvement, much less a nuclear face-off with Moscow.

NATO announced what it called "concrete measures" on April 1, which would serve to boost Ukraine's ability to defend itself. These measures, however, appeared limited to ill-defined "capacity building" measures and boosting the size of NATO's liaison office in the capital.

"It's not that the West couldn't stop it - a couple of brigades of NATO troops would almost certainly deter an invasion," Dmitri Gorenburg, Russia analyst at the Centre for Naval Analyses, (a U.S. government-funded body that advises the military) reveals. "But that isn't going to happen. When it comes to pushing back Russia's actions in the former Soviet Union, there is no strategy and there is no appetite."

See full article here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/11/us-ukraine-crisis-strategy-analysis-idUSBREA3A0G620140411