Goodbye, good luck to Ukraine?

By Frida Ghitis

April 16, 2014 -- Updated 1153 GMT (1953 HKT)

A masked gunman stands guard near tanks in Slaviansk, Ukraine, on Wednesday, April 16. Ukraine has seen a sharp rise in tensions since a new pro-European government took charge of the country in February. Moscow branded the new government illegitimate and annexed Ukraine's Crimea region last month, citing threats to Crimea's Russian-speaking majority. And in eastern Ukraine, pro-Russian separatists have seized government and police buildings in as many as 10 towns and cities.

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Crisis in Ukraine

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Frida Ghitis: What will President Obama do about the Ukraine crisis?
• Ghitis: He has four options, like stop making empty threats toward Russia
• She says U.S. should impose real sanctions or else it looks like paper tiger
• Ghitis: U.S. military intervention is slim; Obama could turn his back on Ukraine

Editor's note: Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist for The Miami Herald and World Politics Review. A former CNN producer and correspondent, she is the author of "The End of Revolution: A Changing World in the Age of Live Television." Follow her on Twitter @FridaGhitis. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) -- The mysterious, faceless green men have entered eastern Ukraine, looking much like they did last month in Crimea before Russia sliced off and swallowed that former province of Ukraine.

What will President Barack Obama do now?

Unlike Russia's Crimea invasion, the Ukrainian government is not rolling over as readily this time, vowing not "to let the Crimea scenario repeat." That is just what Russian President Vladimir Putin needs to justify an open military assault under the guise of "protecting" Ukraine's ethnic Russians. The possibility that war will break out is real.

Frida Ghitis

U.S. officials are convinced that the disciplined militias -- who have taken over government buildings in more than half a dozen Ukrainian cities, wearing no identifying marks on their uniforms -- are Russian special forces or "paid operatives," deliberately stoking unrest, not part of a spontaneous groundswell of pro-Russia sentiment. Still, America's warnings of serious repercussions have fallen on deaf ears.

With the crisis continuing to escalate, Obama can choose between four courses of action.

more see:.................................   http://edition.cnn.com/2014/04/15/opinion/ghitis-ukraine-obama/index.html?iid=article_sidebar