"Already taken place" is not crucial, as the conditional can obviously be placed on it continuing.

Plus, an action like an embargo or sanction can be devastating to a country while still being "non-military". That old BS embargo on Iraq has claimed hundreds of thousands lives for example [1].

In fact, what we do have now is that "non-military" action happening, and no counter-response. So, it's more like them sucking up and taking it, with some verbal threats added to save face.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2000/mar/04/weekend7...

I concede the point, nuclear strikes on the US and Japan are reasonable responses.