Russia is feeling paranoid after what they consider unfair attacks from the west, including that NATO-engineered coup in Ukraine during the Sochi Olympics.
Not so paranoid as they didn’t have time to dope up their athletes like in the old USSR days...
What else can Putin say?
* His economy sucks and hasn’t moved beyond primitive resource reliance...
* 20% of his people are below the poverty line
* He claimed “Mission Accomplished” in Syria only to then have dozens of un-uniformed “mercenaries” return to their wives and children in body bags in the past few weeks alone...
* He had to hide the urine of his doped up 2014 Olympic athletes.
* His alliances rely on rogue regimes like Iran, Syria, and North Korea.
But by gosh darn it: he has nukes. He is still 5 foot 7, divorced, and balding....