The Obama crowd is pushing the line that the pressure is now on Russia and Putin to force their puppet Assad to give up his chemical weapons. They keep repeating that the prestige and credibility of Putin is at stake. Hogwash. Neither Putin nor Assad care about chemical weapons, they care only that Assad stays in power. With no threat from the USA, he’s safe with his Russian tanks, bullets and bombs.
More to the point, why do these children think that Putin cares? Just because the DC politicos live and breathe based upon what is said about them at Georgetown dinner parties or in NY Times editorials and OpEds, they surmise that the former fist of the KGB gives a damn. They are unaware, it seems, that he (and Assad) is in charge of a country because he does not give a goddamn what anyone thinks of him. He does not have power because he’s a really sweet guy whose supporters voted for him enthusiastically or otherwise. He takes and holds power the old fashioned way – brute force.
As usual, the DC crowd is projecting. They believe that their reflexive praise of Barack Obama is what props him up, so they conclude that Putin needs the same approval from the non-entity which they have named the “world community.” Meanwhile, Putin and Russia take over the agenda in the Middle East, and American interests and ideals are at increased risk.
Putin is not playing to win Most Popular World Leader, however Obama is, and it seems that both will get what they desire – a diminished American presence in the world. That’s bad not as a patriotic matter or because we really like being No. 1; it’s ominous because America is the beacon of individual liberty and rights. Dim that light and, little by little, country by country, the world regresses into totalitarianism, and when the oil in the Middle East is controlled by tyrants, there will be no joy in Mudville.
America's CURE - by Jeff Neal 
“when the oil in the Middle East is controlled by tyrants, ”
We cannot become energy independent fast enough.