That was precisely the point I was trying to make. The US and Europe have no way of militarily intervening in the Ukraine, and not much of a motive either. The Russians have the assets and the motivation. The only thing the West can do is to make Russia pay a diplomatic and economic price, which is what Obama's and EU comments do. I wouldn't call that arrogance. Failure to condemn Russian actions would amount to tacit acceptance and encouragement of them. We are limited in what we can do or say, but we have to do something.

Arrogance involves tanks and helicopters. Obama's critics on the Right will interpret his reluctance to initiate pointless hostilities in the Ukraine as weakness, while those on the Left seem desperate to characterize any action on his part as provocation. But this is entirely a Russian show, there is nothing anyone else could have done to prevent it, or to stop it. Russia will pay a price, she will see many of her former satellites eager to strengthen ties with NATO and reluctant to embrace further dependence on her, and Europe may reconsider rearming to Cold War Levels.

Whether or not Russia is willing to pay that price is entirely up to her. It will be a long time before Russia will be able to regain the economic and military power she had during the Cold War, and re-establishing that power will be expensive. If that is the course Putin wants to embark on now, he is going to find that it involves paying a price, a price the emerging power centers in Russia may not all be willing to pay. The world has suddenly become less stable, but the arrogance is all on Putin, and on our own opportunists and demagogues so eager to seize his actions to help further their own petty self-serving domestic agendas.