Vice President Joe Biden, who has been traversing Europe in the aftermath of the pro-Russian referendum in Crimea, announced on Tuesday that the U.S. “may consider rotating units of its ground and naval forces through the [Baltic] region for training exercises.”

This is meant as a show of force ostensibly to demonstrate America’s military commitment to Europe in the face of Russian assertiveness and military incursions in Ukraine. I also heard Fox News panelists this morning demand the Obama administration send warships to the Black Sea to show Putin who is boss.

Let’s make one thing clear: these useless military exercises and demonstrations of force do absolutely nothing to alter the reality or Russia’s strategic calculations. They are essentially for domestic consumption, to satisfy political hardliners who are attacking the president for being too weak.

They also hold the odious pretense that America owns the world and that Russian gains in its traditional sphere of influence represent a defiance of Uncle Sam, ruler of planet Earth.