Back on track, one obvious question here is "Has NATO gotten too large?" As my crudely colored map here shows (which makes me want to play Medieval: Total War), the alliance has grown considerably since its inception:
Click to enlarge
I suppose the good news is that much of Europe is allied with us and those remaining are more neutral towards us than antipathetic. But I wonder if our resolve is the same across the board and an alliance is only as strong as the willingness of its participants to hold up their end of the bargin. If Russia attacks, will we be willing to respond with military force? For the UK? Sure. France, Spain, Italy, Germany? No doubt. Poland? The Czech Republic? Erm... maybe. Lithuania? Slovakia? Estonia? Are we willing to risk a prolonged war with a nuclear opponent over who gets some chunk of Ukraine? Would we reinstitute a draft to protect the sovereignty of Bulgaria? If we are, great.
If not, we need to start carefully considering how NATO expands. The first time NATO responds to an attack upon a member state with a "Umm... stop doing that? Please?", the whole thing is going to fall apart. I don't know if there's anyone here who'd be willing to open a new war in Georgia over South Ossetia. If we're not, expansion might not be the best choice.
(i keed)