Wow! What a concept! This morning, Tom Ricks put up a guest column that suggests the appropriate sanction for Russia and Putin would be to stop flights to Moscow from participating nations' airports and to deny landing rights for flights originating in Moscow.
Tom Ricks, who writes the Best Defense column on Foreign Policy magazine blog, arguably writes some of the most interesting ideas about our current bloated military. (Linky: http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/...)
Ricks has also shown a journalistic generosity of spirit towards members of the military, allowing them to write guest columns. This column is written by a retired Air Force pilot, former military intelligence officer and consultant to the FAA on safety issues. In short, it is an informed piece with some fascinating ideas about "public goods" and nuanced proposals.
In place of escalating the Cool War between the West and Russia, his proposal is a neatly appropriate response that I thought was, like many brilliant ideas, simple and elegant.
Drawing on the work of Nobel-prize winner, economist Elinor Ostrom's book, Governing the Commons, Dr. Schmitz (who authored the guest column), argues that the proliferation of weapons to non state actors -- little more than ragtag militias -- present a dire threat to the international community.
He notes that elites with economic and political ties to Russia are reluctant to impose (surprise!) economic and political sanctions -- as amply demonstrated by the meeting of EU ministers yesterday in Brussels. This proposal neatly finesses the problems posed by the political supremacy of these elites, able to block most proposals that could be expected to have an effect.
On the other hand, Schmitz's proposal neatly matches the punishment to the crime -- If you damage the public space, you don't get to participate in it.