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"Intervention" used to be easy. You saw a kingdom you liked, you conquered it, you probably installed a puppet government and made sure the people paid their taxes. No, I'm not pining for the "good old days", but this isn't the way things work anymore. More and more, as a global society we are starting to respect international sovereignty and the right for a nation to fix its own form of government. So you can't just swoop in, put install a government, and run things under martial law until you break the spine of the resistance.
1. Intervention is expensive. Look at Iraq. Intervention in Iraq is costing the involved players (including Iraq) unbelievable amounts of money. Then there's the cost of human lives, it's bad enough to lose your child who's out fighting your country's wars, to some it's probably worse to be out fighting some other country's war.
2. Picking a side is difficult.
You really don't have to look any further than Iran to see this effect. Boy, we really picked a great side there! And funding the Mujahideen turned around and bit us on the butt. So who do we prop up in Burma? Who gets the first serving of power? Who will last long enough to restore civil order?
3. You bring matters to a head
Nothing would bring about a civil war quicker than threatening the government in power. Governments are like living organisms, with a survival instinct and fear of death. Yeah it's bad now, but what happens when the government goes out with a poison pill tactic, taking everything else out in the process?
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