The second wave of US sanctions against Russian officials and the heated rhetorical exchange between the leaders of both countries, with each side blaming the other, show that Washington-Moscow relations have bottomed out. Ukraine has moved closer to civil war after Donetsk and Luhansk provinces in the eastern part of the country voted for independence in a referendum on Monday.

So, it is time to abandon political posturing and introduce some rationality into the discussions on Ukraine. The stakes are too high to allow the confrontation between Washington and Moscow to continue, not least because the consequences are unpredictable.

The violence and chaos spreading across Ukraine have the potential to spark a much wider conflict in Europe on a scale not seen since 1945. The expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's military hardware and personnel along Russia's borders and the threats of further devastating Western sanctions intended to cripple the Russian economy are pushing people toward a nightmarish situation that neither the United States nor its European allies are prepared to face.