Like in Georgia, Putin just diffused ww3 by taking Crimea. He knew the west is disparately trying to encircle them and add former Warsaw pact countries to NATO. Had he done nothing, the 'new government' would be nullifying their base treaty and kicking them out . Russia will not stand by idley and watch NATO weasle the Russian fleet from the black sea. Otherwise a few months from now he'd be in a worse conflict when Ukraine gets in NATO and steals the black sea from him. He has what he wants. The US hippocrites act like they're angels, as of never used their military to make things go their way. The US/NATO position is laughable. Like Busy said, if you wanna make an omlet, you gotta break a couple of eggs. So far, he's been far less violent than America has been (Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, to name a few)