[quote=Captain Jordan]
What terrifies me is how little is going to be done about this. The US won't intervene. The US and Russia have engaged in a hot war. We'd be fools to start now, the result would surely be World War 3. Europe won't intervene. Russia could do far more damage to them in terms of political and economic pressures. Militarily, most everything pales in comparison to countries with a nuclear arsenal. The UN won't intervene. Even if Russia follows the rules of the Security Council and abstains from such a vote, China would certainly veto it. I wouldn't be surprised if France did as well. If, and it's a huge if, the resolution ever made it to the UN floor, I fear it would be paralyzed by UN inaction once more. Sadly, the UN is just plain ineffective in preventing big conflicts like this, especially when it involves one of the superpowers. I can't imagine the UN voting to act against one of its most influential members, to do so would likely tear apart the facade that holds that organization together. So Russia will retake Crimea, or swallow Ukraine whole. I think the former is more likely than the latter, Russia is probably only interested in the warm sea port and the Russian inhabitants of that peninsula than the whole of Ukraine. It wouldn't surprise me if they installed their own puppet government again, or helped the campaign of a pro-Russia supporter get into office in the next elections, if only to placate Europe and the world and assure them that Russia doesn't want World Domination. Just Crimea. Russia has always wanted Crimea.
[/quote]

I imagine the Russians thought something similar about the USA into the middle east. 

The rules, objectively, are different for those with the power to do as they wish. There's no foreseeable iteration of the UN or any similar body that can change that. The weak will be subjected to the strong; so the three options are, cultivate strength in the weak; cultivate weakness in the strong; or do nothing. The third choice usually wins.