Putin is a nationalist. You threaten Russians, he will counter attack. You give him pretext to threaten Russians, he will attack. Do not feed the bear. Unless of course you think GWB was a closet Putin loving Homo. He did drive him around his ranch in a white pickup truck.
Yes. I know that Putin is doing what he thinks is right for Russia. The US and Europe have totally mismanaged their relations with Russia since the fall of communism. We had a window of opportunity where we could have made Russia an ally, but instead both the US and Europe did a series things which alienated and pushed the Russians away from us. However, no matter the mistakes made, there comes a time when you have to confront the monster you created. Putin is that monster. That time is now. God help us. We have the wrong people in charge. We need a Ronald Reagan but we have this clown, Obama.