David Petraeus

There can be economic sanctions of various types against individuals, against Iran's ability to export oil.

There's humanitarian options.

And then, of course, there are many military options.

And I was also the former commander of U.S.

Central Command, which is the greater Middle East.

That would be the regional combatant command that undoubtedly has been developing the menus of options for the president and others to consider.

There can certainly be strikes on the headquarters of the security force organizations that are violently putting down these protests.

these demonstrations that have been killing the people in very substantial numbers.

He could go after the missile capability that they have, which, of course, was heavily damaged during the Israeli strikes against Iran, which concluded with a U.S.

substantial bombing as well.

They've been trying to reconstitute those missile arsenals that would be useful.

It could prevent some of the retaliation that might be of a concern.

Again, a number of different activities that wouldn't require boots on the ground, many of which could even be done with unmanned systems, cruise missiles and the like.

It was predictable and predicted, in fact, widely that Putin would not accept anything less than his stated core objectives, which are to replace President Zelensky through an election, presumably with a pro-Russian figure, to be given land in Donetsk province that they haven't even approached, much less taken.

And this includes the so-called fortified cities, which, if given to Russia, basically open the field for further aggression there.

down the road.

None of those can be acceptable to Ukraine, but Putin is clearly not going to accept anything less.

He seems to be still under the impression that victory is inevitable, even though it's very clear that the incremental gains at extraordinary cost at some point just are not going to be sustainable for Russia, especially given the more fragile state of its economy than I think many recognize.

Well, I think that there is an increased urgency in European capitals and in Brussels.

In fact, I've visited many of them over the last several months, including also a visit to Kiev.