Yes, but its about principal. You can't just roll through a boarder and say " Its ours now". Hell in many/ if not all instances that has directly resulted in war. Russia flexing is muscles is one thing, this is sending troops across a border and taking a territory.
I think the comparison to the cold war is very apt. Putin has lead Russia to isolation and more towards imperialism since he came to power. Threats of taking the arctic, threats of intervention in Syria, escalation of armament in his nation. He wants the world to see Russia as it used to during the Soviet era.
This is a fucking powder keg, a HUGE one. Sure the Russians just want this peninsula, but its a show of force to other former soviet states that cutting ties with Russia is a bad thing. That throwing puppet PMs out will result in a show of force. That Russia, and by proxy, Putin's power should not be challenged.
Americans don't like bullies, and they really don't like when people invade other nations for no reason. NATO is in the same boat. If this doesn't get solved by talks, we could see a return to a "cold war" style of relations, or even war.
