If Obama does nothing on the Ukraine situation it’ll be the first time I’ve ever agreed with him.
I don’t have any appetite for military engagement in Ukraine. It is true if Obama really was President worth his salt he’d do more than offer up empty threats. He’d do something like Cheney suggested which is deploy anti-ballistic missile systems in Poland but he won’t do that. The part of the Ukraine that Russia is attempting to annex might as well be Russia proper given its population and the remaining Ukraine would be left with far larger majorities opposed to Putin provided they have some backing from Europe and the US which is the part that is in doubt.
That said I’m not overly worried about Putin. He isn’t going to start a war, nor does he desire to, he is simply doing what he did at the end of GW Bush Presidency when he say an opportunity of weakness. Russia may not be capable of extending a force even a fraction of what was possible with the former Soviet Union but the goal of Putin is to grow Russian influence where he thinks he can safely with little chance of true cost to him. He doesn’t give a damn about the UN or Obama or effete Europe and while he is a scumbag its hard to see him as much worse than what we are dealing with under the guise of a soft tyranny which in some ways is worse because it is harder to directly oppose.