This Putin fellow is a modern fossil. His approach to managing Russia is hard as a rock. It is as if he were trapped in a time warp that prevents him from joining the present. I have tried to think as deeply as possible about him, and I suspect that unless one has been born and raised in the previous Soviet Union, that is an impossible task.

What kind of mind invades Crimea, the tiny tip of a country like the Ukraine, and claims he is safeguarding the Russians who live there? The Ukraine has been valiantly striving to enter the European Union while Putin has been pulling Russia back to an almost Czarist state.

His literally bare chested escapades upon horseback for media photos, and his sky diving and other manly pursuits, feeding the media’s relentless appetite for kitchy news, have been embarrassingly ridiculous. One guesses he is mentally a very insecure man, although consciously feeling he is a masterful leader. He is either paranoid or unconscious of the advancement of the human race beyond brute grunting.

Even if you don’t fancy Obama for other reasons, I believe you should admire him for his restraint in the face of Putin’s aggression toward the Ukraine. Had Obama and the European nations instantly stood up to him with full military force, I don’t doubt Putin might have chanced a real war against the odds. He still may. If so, he’ll be a truly credible target for serious military emasculation.

The last thing the world needs right now is one more bloody departure from sanity. If Putin wants to expose his face as the tough guy he envisions himself to be, like all bullies he is courting a serious put down. Let’s hope he has more latent common sense. If not, let’s hope Europe and America exhibit a firm hand and show him some real toughness. I suspect he may have just reached a thin line he had best not cross.