(Newser) – Russia is way out of line. How dare a large military power cook up a pretext to invade a smaller, weaker nation? "Is it just me, or does the rhetoric about the crisis in Ukraine sound as if all of Washington is suffering from amnesia?" asks Eugene Robinson at the Washington Post. "Even as we condemn Moscow for its outrageous aggression, we reserve the right to fire deadly missiles into Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and who knows where else."

Before those conflicts, there was Iraq, Afghanistan, Iraq again, and even Panama and Grenada. Russia's invasion is certainly wrong, but "the United States, frankly, has limited standing to insist on absolute respect for the territorial integrity of sovereign states." As for those deriding President Obama's response as weak, they're "either cynical or clueless. It is meaningless to rattle sabers if the whole world knows you have no intention of using them," and Russia is one of the few nations on Earth our military might can't intimidate. Click for Robinson's full column. (Read more Ukraine stories.)

