Building a consensus among 19 nations even for an air war seemed hard enough at the time, so any commitment to start a ground invasion to liberate Kosovo would have been politically much more divisive.

ECONOMIST: One way or another, combat troops are needed to end this war

On March 19, 2003, U.S. missiles and bunker-busting bombs dropped by air struck targets inside Iraq, paving the way for a ground invasion by U.S.-led forces the next day that eventually overthrew President Saddam Hussein's regime on April 9.

WSJ: Wave of Deadly Attacks Hits Baghdad

Translated from the Russian, Lavrov said that the he understands the idea is for the EU to develop plans for humanitarian convoys, and that nothing would be done with NATO on the ground unless the United Nations Security Council said a ground invasion to oust Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was within their authority.

FORBES: Russian Official Tells Press NATO Going into Libya

The oddity is that the row comes at a time when French films, many of them more accessible than the art-house product that English-speakers tend to imagine are the French studios' only output, are standing their ground against the perceived invasion from Hollywood.

ECONOMIST: French culture

And he kept warning that the military option, by which he meant air strikes, not an invasion on the ground, was still on the table as a last resort.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Norman Podhoretz receives the Center's Mightier Pen Award

But he said there had not been in recent weeks the visible redeployment of ground forces consistent with an invasion plan, nor "a change in what is happening in North Korean society".

BBC: North Korea: UK's Hague calls for calm amid tensions

Having interviewed him shortly after the 2003 invasion of Iraq - the ground element of which he masterminded - I can attest to his soft spoken, cerebral presence.

BBC: When generals become unstuck

And many Israelis want to avoid a lengthy ground operation in Lebanon, like the 1982 invasion to stop Palestinian attacks on northern Israel.

NPR: Echoes of Israel's Occupation of Lebanon