But it's still both real and powerful, as Putin has discovered over the past six months.
But, that's more because of the alliance within the West, not even the norms. It just happens that the US/West has a monopoly on morality at the moment. This isn't a good thing. It undermines real international law and risks major problems.
In regards to Russia's neighbors, they really have nothing to fear, even with Crimea. There will be no additional territory added to Russia. Crimea was a one-off deal, they're hardly an aggressor country. NATO's expansion seems to be completely unrelated to Russia's actions.
It's not just Russia who should reflect why this situation is happening, everybody should. It's been well-documented that Russia's sensitive spot is Ukraine, and seeing there's been plenty of reason to believe that the West was behind it, they see it as a betrayal. We have a history of doing this, and still do. This is a risk to global stability in on its own.
Surely the answer can't be that the United States has brainwashed every head of state in the world except for Vladimir Putin.
Not all governments are on our side with this. Most of the world is not involved in this and are using it to create really lucrative trade deals with Russia. It's only the US, Canada, Europe, Japan, and Australia pretty much. There's been some opposition to new sanctions as well. At the moment, they're pointless anyways seeing the situation in the East is entirely dependent on Kiev making an agreement with the rebels. Lavrov recently stated that Donetsk and Lugansk are Ukraine, and dialog needs to occur between the rebels and Kiev to work something out that works for everyone. Crimea won't be returned, but, Crimea would probably have a major league insurgency if they tried, even if Russia disappeared at the time of it occurring. The people there never felt a part of Ukraine, and they were part of Ukraine only a short time longer than East Germany existed.
Quite frankly, I really don't think this is a smart move in the long-term. We're headed towards a bipolar world again as the BRICS, the rest of South America, and African nations develop. Unless we can all get to the point where we're not crossing each other's red lines, we're going to end up in a cold war again. This time, the West won't have an advantage.