Life doesn’t work like that. IF it mattered to stop Putin from taking more territory, you would have needed to act *prior* to Putin taking Crimea.
Instead, acting *after* Putin took the Crimea puts the U.S. “behind the curve” in military terms. Being behind the curve means that you have to make predictable, costly, or desperate moves...and your likelihood of success is small.
Right now, it is too late for Ukraine/Crimea. However, we could act now to shore up Poland and Germany.
Acting now for Ukraine/Crimea *instead* of shoring up Poland/Germany means that you could lose far more than (parts of) the Ukraine.
You have to stabilize the board at this point. Ground is lost because we got behind the curve. Getting more behind the curve will cost us more countries.
You’ll lose Poland and Germany if you waste efforts on the Ukraine at this point.
Putin took Crimea, but it’s not too late to stop him from taking the rest of Eastern Ukraine. If we fail to act now, it will be too late.
What you are saying is like saying in the 1950’s it’s too late to save West Berlin, we should just let the Soviets have it. It’s like saying in the 1940’s, it’s too late to save France, just let Hitler keep it.
We lost Poland when Obama rescinded missile defense. Hopefully we will elect a POTUS who understand the world as it is not as interpreted by a rabid left wing ideologue.