Jeffrey Harvey, it's certainly a pretty question important to ask --and deserving an answer.

Hoping" Putin will not do these dastardly things is not much of a position certainly no strategy.

Another question is: Does the nuclear risk increase while we allow Putin to do his worst in Ukraine? and would our all out defense of Ukraine really increase the risk?

We could find ourselves chasing events. We already have.

We could have defended Ukraine from the get go. Enriched Ukraine with all the counter measures as Putin was assembling his attack.

But that couldn't be done. Popular enthusiasm in both Europe and America for such a military undertaking was absent. It had been already spent. That precious commodity was squandered with wars of misadventure in Afghanistan and Iraq (the second one). The bank was bare. The U.S. didn't have the political will to become a player in Syria (which Putin took advantage of) and we offered indifferent, if not cursory treatment, to our commitments in northern Syria defending the Kurds and Afghanistan for the rights of women, not just in that country, but in the whole developing world.

We possibly now have the popular support for America, Europe and NATO to remove Putin from Ukraine. And, if the nuclear risk is not increased by this engagement, then we should do this.

Offering Putin some kind of retirement plan, as distasteful as this would be, may be worth swallowing -- if he would too.

Many thanks. And very important question.