Interesting take, I can see the motivation of salvaging the dollar, but the botched Afghanistan withdrawal hasn't left the American public with much appetite for military intervention.

Additionally, as this article mentions, Crimean public wanted to part of Russia, the Ukrainians do not. The U.S. had enough trouble just occupying Afghanistan in this way. The resources needed to occupy Ukraine by force would enormous and continual.

To me it seems like a lot of posturing from Putin, who likely realizes Joe has nothing but empty sanctions up his sleeve, trying to create political pressure to get his way on some geopolitical issue