At 9:49 p.m. ET, Russia has scored, thanks to a goal by Hurricanes prospect Vasily Ponomaryov. The Americans are struggling with zone entry and cannot get set up on their power play. The Americans have no shots on goal in the game while Russia has three. The game is tied at 2:2.

The United States will respond to Russian aggression with a coordinated effort to degrade and deleverage its influence in the world. The United States will aim to weaken the Kremlin’s geopolitical influence, delegitimize the Putin regime at home, and disenfranchise Russian oligarchs from conducting business in U.S. dollars. The United States should target potential vectors of Russian influence and implement measures that can limit their activities.

In order to keep the conflict at bay, both nations will need to engage in strategic stability talks. In this case, both sides should maintain an open door to follow-up treaties that have expired and replace existing agreements. The United States must also maintain its commitment to dialogue with Russia in order to keep tensions low. In this way, the world will be safer. And that will ensure stability. When the United States and Russia have talks, the two nations will not be as angry.

As for the Ukraine, America had hoped to prevent a new Cold War in Europe. Yet the Kremlin under Putin has never stopped fighting the Cold War. However, such a response is unlikely to be discrete. Instead, it is likely to be a continuous policy of isolation, constraint, and weakness. This approach has a lot of drawbacks. It is important to remember that U.S. military options are limited, and that the Kremlin has been fighting wars since the Cold War ended.