We do have a choice about Ukraine, just as we had a choice about Syria, Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, etc. We are

We do have a choice about Ukraine, just as we had a choice about Syria, Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, etc. We are making the wrong choice now, just as we made the wrong choices before. Although we kill lots of people, many of them innocent rather than "bad", we never actually "avoid" worse situations. In cases like Libya our intervention has worsened human life by every measure. In other cases we might have delayed inevitable events somewhat (e.g. Vietnam couldn't go to war with China until it finished beating us). The "specific action" in every case is spending public funds, which is the purpose of the USA military, intelligence services, diplomatic corps, and news media, and has been since the Korean War. Insofar as they affect security at all, our military efforts usually reduce it.