What did the US do to prevent Russia "taking out" Crimea that the cowardly rest of the world didn't?

I am not saying it is obvious that the US would confront China militarily if it was to invade Taiwan. But Europe did let a friendly country at its immediate border get invaded and didn’t even stop buying the main resource the invader relies on (oil and gas). Let alone have any military involvement.

The US didn't stop trading with Saudi Arabia even after proven involvement in 9/11/2001. It's all mildly complicated.

> The memorandum was originally signed by three nuclear powers: the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States.... included security assurances against threats or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest_Memorandum_on_Securit...

> and didn’t even stop buying the main resource the invader relies on (oil and gas)

The problem is that Europe depends on (cheap) Russian gas for heating.

Right. And we are realising now how dependant we are on the Chinese supply chain.

Nothing - but Crimea is right on the EU's doorstep. Both Ukraine and Russia share borders with EU member states.

If we EU member states didn't get involved when we saw a fight right in front of us, the threat of us getting involved in a fight thousands of miles away isn't very credible as a deterrent.

More broadly, when I look at Taiwan I don't see the EU or US recognising Taiwan as a nation - let alone any tripwire forces or foreign airbases or nuclear sharing or NATO membership or joint training exercises which signal the fully fledged protection of a great power.

Germany is more than happy to trade with Russia breaking sanctions https://www.dw.com/en/siemens-to-hike-russia-investment-desp... Not to mention NordStreamII

> Nothing - but Crimea is right on the EU's doorstep.

So it's no further from US bases than EU bases.

> Both Ukraine and Russia share borders with EU member states.

And Russia is a two mile walkable ice bridge from the US in winter.

> If we EU member states didn't get involved when we saw a fight right in front of us, the threat of us getting involved in a fight thousands of miles away isn't very credible as a deterrent.

Distance isn't the issue. EU countries/NATO will bomb any puny country armed with obsolete weapons, wherever it is.

What the US and EU will never do is get into a fight with a nuclear armed superpower.

umm Russia isn't a super power. But the US and EU will avoid directly fighting any nuclear armed country... Well yea duh, the nuke doesn't need to hit us to kill the planet.

True, although Crimea was pretty much testcase-scale - not many people live there, and its economic value is pretty low. Taiwan is much much more populous, and has a much higher economic value.

Crimea has strategic value for the military though, the port of Sevastopol houses the Russian Black Sea fleet.