The world is already on its way back to darkness. At this point, Putin is a minor player.
It would be smart politics to make a limited deal with Russia — we don’t need them as enemies at this point. Crimea means nothing to us, let them have it. Most of the people there are in favour. Make it clear that we won’t take the same position on the Baltic states or the rest of the Ukraine, but that we want good relations and a common front against Islam. Re-assess who we back in Syria, we got that wrong and Putin got it right.
Then move on. We have common enemies and common challenges. Anyone in the west who thinks we have any spare time or energy to bring more freedom to Russia is wasting their time. We need to bring more freedom to our own countries.
Having the academic orthodoxy death wish creeping out into mainstream society is far more dangerous than a few Russian threats that amount to nothing but whistling past the graveyard. The problem is becoming this — we ARE the graveyard.
If you remember the Russia before 1992, surely no one wants to allow a recreation of that, especially as darkness descends on the world, Putin is a part of the forces that are bringing darkness on the world, and God forbid that he succeed in becoming the monster that he hopes to become.