For eight months, Cypriot politicians failed to recognize a central truth: that while imposing losses on depositors would cross a Rubicon, turning the euro zone into a transfer union would cross an even bigger one.

WSJ: Now We Are Seeing Politics in the Raw

Even if this was legally possible, which it isn't under current euro-zone rules, it was politically impossible: there is no appetite in some euro-zone countries, notably Germany, to create a transfer union, nor to bail out a country whose banking system is widely suspected to be a haven for money-laundering.

WSJ: Euro Zone Moving Into Twilight Zone

The senior administration official is correct, but the -- what has already happened and is occurring now is the transfer of command and control over the no-fly zone to NATO.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing