In a very real way, this is exactly what is happening, at least on the American side with a good deal of partisan politics thrown in to potentially make this a very dangerous situation. On the Russian side of things, we are just doing what Russia has always done in situations like this.
From the perspective of Russians, including myself, there is nothing special about what is going on or Putin's response to this. This is not an international political game, and it is not Putin posturing to increase his international image. He is doing what Russian leaders usually do when a Slavic issue arises that threaten Russians and other Slavs: act in the best interests of the Russian people first and in the interests of Slavs as a whole next. Russia has, historically, been the protector of the Slavic peoples and it has sought to protect Russians no matter where they are.
Situations like this have played out several times, even in recent history. Just a few years ago, the Ossetian population decided to secede from Georgia and form their own nation, and Georgia responded by bombing civilians. Russia invaded to protect the Ossetians (although arguably a little too brutally). Of course, this wasn't really covered mush in American news outlets for several reasons, one of which is the headline "Russia invades Georgia" would have caused some very hilarious reactions in America.
My point here is that as far as Russia is concerned, as long as a large amount Russian and Slavic lives are at stake, which in the event of a civil war in Ukraine is a foregone conclusion, Russia has a duty to act to prevent this from occurring, even if that means occupying Ukraine until a new and stable government can be put in place, and nothing is going to stop us, especially the US no matter who is president of either nation. This is not a political pissing match with the US or a power grab by Putin. We already have an established hegemony among the Slavic states and the United States is not in any way a threat to that, even if the EU accord had been signed by Ukraine before this broke out. The take away here is that the US will not be able to force Putin into backing down if it is decided that Ukraine must be occupied to protect Russians and Slavs in general, and if the US forces the issue, it will probably mean war which I do not want at all. I have spent as much of my life in the US as I did in the Soviet Union and I do not want to see a war.
As far as the American side of this is concerned, Americans don't seem to care when Russia does what it has always done in the East until it involves a country they have heard of which is the case here so it gets blown way out of proportion. It doesn't help that a lot of top US military and political officials remember the cold war all too well and there is a lot of anger and resentment towards Russians left over. Plus, a lot of American policy makers seem to be unable to accept that this issue just may have nothing at all to do with America so of course it is just a ploy by Putin to seize power and humiliate America. And then you have the partisan hacks who look at this on point and shout: "Look! Russia is doing exactly what it always does in situations like this when Russians and Slavs are in danger! This proves how weak our current president is!"
