No Military Intervention in Ukraine, Obama Says

Russia is violating international law, but the response should be diplomacy, not force.

President Obama has ruled out the prospect of any military intervention in Ukraine.

In an interview with San Diego's NBC 7, Obama said stressed diplomacy over force, saying:

We are not going to be getting into a military excursion in Ukraine. What we are going to do is mobilize all of our diplomatic resources to make sure that we've got a strong international coalition that sends a clear message, which is the Ukraine should decide their own destiny. Russia, right now, is violating international law and the sovereignty of another country.

Obama added that he believed Ukrainians would agree that military intervention would not be a good idea right now.

While the remarks aren't unexpected, given the United States' (and Ukraine's) reluctance to use military force in Crimea so far, this should fire up the pundits who have accused Obama of being weak and citing that perceived weakness as the reason why Putin felt free to invade Ukraine.

Russia, of course, just got done condemning the United States for interfering with Syria's affairs by shutting down its embassy and consulates, a move Syria said violated international law.

In another interview with Dallas Fort Worth's KDFW, Obama said "every resource that we have available" was being used to find the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. A Texas resident is one of the 239 people on board the missing plane.