Putin long ago sized up Obama and found him to be weak, indecisive, narcissistic, and generally accepting of diminishment of America’s position in the world. Putin is acting against Ukraine now because he see’s no real resistance from this manchild. Putin has a green light to do whatever he wants for the next three years.
Other adversaries are reaching the same conclusions and will be initiating their own aggressive actions soon.
Absolutely. The lessons of Obama's bungling inaction with respect to Syria, Iran, NoKorea, China, Failure to complete a trade deal with Japan, the primary purpose of his recent failed Asian trip, and now Ukraine, are being watched attentively by ambitious would-be malefactors all over the world.