Dang, for an Ambassador to Russia who resigned just last month, this McFaul guy comes down on Putin very hard. (Is it ok to post a link to McFaul’s op ed in NYT?)
Then again, back in 1994, it appears that some hard line Russkis arranged for a gunshot through his office window, so he’s probably under no illusions, unlike some here...
Interesting history on (former) Ambassador McFaul:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_McFaul
Also, likely slanted, but still useful background:
http://news.stanford.edu/pr/01/mcfaulprofile1128.html
My reading is that of a guy who left work he loved because he was fed up with his bosses. The criticism of US foreign policy implicit in his NYT piece is pretty strong, if one looks (reads) carefully at all.