Overkill? Putin knows full well there's propaganda value to a national leader being a hardass and looking the part on the world stage. What viewers see of Putin they see of Russia. He took care of business this past weekend, didn't he? Just one warning from his government and almost immediately eight POSGOP senaturds joined five others in scampering to the democrat side to ratify START. Were it going the other way, I doubt the limp-wristed bleating from our... ahem... "leaders"... would elicit anything from the Russians except laughter.
Result: Advantage Russia. They kicked our collective ass.
To add to my post, the Russians will always have the negotiating advantage over us so long as 0bama is in the White House... Putin loves his country and shows it. Obama doesn’t. Obama sees himself as a “citizen of the world.” As such, he’ll never have the requisite amount of patriotic energy needed to secure an advantage for the U.S.