Six months of bombing raids will certainly hurt it militarily, forcing its overextended and lightly armed forces to give up some ground, but will be certain to strengthen it politically if fighting is all that the Iraqis see.
But it will not fight for Georgia militarily or force the issue of NATO membership, not least because neither country is ready.
The problem is that if they don't then leave, to be replaced by more locally credible yet militarily able forces, they invite frustration, and risk unsustainable casualties and political if not military defeat.
The nomadic lifestyle was well suited to warfare, and steppe cavalry became some of the most militarily potent forces in the world, only limited by nomads' frequent lack of internal unity.
Although Shays Rebellionn met with defeat militarily by forces entirely from the state of Massachusetts, it led national leaders to call for a stronger national government to suppress possible future rebellions that a state might not be able to suppress on its own.
The Revolutionary United Front must be engaged militarily with overwhelming force.
President Obama has resisted demands that he intervene militarily and in force.
The moves to send military personnel have been likened by some critics to America's decision to send military advisers to Vietnam, raising worries in both countries that they are being drawn closer to a conflict with no clear resolution on behalf of a fractious and militarily ineffective insurgent force about which little is known.
Since he would have trouble trusting his own counts to assemble and lead troops to defeat Ragnar's large force militarily, paying them off instead would buy Charles time, and possibly peace from further Viking raids at least in the near future.
Both Kiev and Moscow have an interest in negotiations: the Ukrainian forces have found it impossible to win control back militarily against separatist forces with Russian backing, while Moscow is facing an economic downturn and does not want to prop up the Donbass region financially.
