My argument is that, contrary to what many people seem to believe, the US still does have a lot of cards to play.
On this particular topic, it has two powerful cards: 1) a virtual monopoly on software platforms for phones and PCs (in the form of IOS, Android, Windows, and even Linux if we go by the recent removal of Russian contributors from Linux's code base), 2) being the sole financial super power of the world, controlling the flow of the vast majority of global capital through its SWIFT system, stock market, and currency.
There's a reason no one outside of China and Russia really dare to do business with a sanctioned entity - the US can completely crush them in retaliation just by either freezing their financial assets (almost always in dollars), or by just banning them from the IOS and Android App. Stores, if they're a software company. The wealth of the so called "global elite" outside of China and Russia is almost entirely in the hands of US banks and trading houses. That's why the US can isolate and contain countries like Iran and Cuba with the stroke of a pen.
In short, the US is not helpless, and that's why a negotiated settlement favorable to the US may, in fact, happen.
That doesn't mean I agree with it. But dismissing it out right is foolish and ignores the advantages the US does have.
