This is the type of statement that I am talking about
:
Breaking News @BreakingNews 7m
President Obama says military confrontation between Russia and the US is 'not in the cards'
In a liberal democratic ideal world, this is a tension easing statement. Can't we all just get along, group hug, and group think to solve a problem. That works well for internal US politics, because we have a national history and similar core beliefs that say, Yes, we should not use military confrontation to resolve our issues. (Hence why Ferguson blew up when it looked like the local police were going military - though interesting that national guard troops helped quiet it, but even in that case the national guard was seen as limiting militarized police, in addition to force against the public unrest).
BUT, to put that statement out there for global politics is to tell those who don't share that mentality, that it's ok to carve Ukraine up. We will be very mad and disappointed, but there won't be any "real" consequences. And if you think Putin cares about his people - a) he has a 80% popularity rating (I heard it will be 85% after the next KGB sweep
), b) his response to our sanctions was to take food off his foodstore shelves with his own sanctions.