WHAT?  U.S. actions forced Russia's hand?  What have you been smoking, McMahon?  You are obviously a member of the "Blame America First" loony bin.  Where was your outrage when Russian sympathizers shot down the Malaysia Airlines civilian jetliner over Ukraine?  Better yet, where was obama, The Incompetent One, "leading from behind"?  Putin read obama like a book and knew he was a PUSHOVER and would respond with nothing but tough-sounding rhetoric backed by inaction when Putin seized Crimea, claiming that ethnic Russians were at risk.  Sounds like Hitler's excuse when he invaded Poland in 1939, or do you remember that lesson?  Oh, woe is Russia!  The breakup of the Soviet Union has given it's former constituents the freedom that Russia had formerly denied with an Iron Fist.  Yes, I'm sure this makes Putin feel threatened by the West.  And you blame US for him trying to rebuild the glory of the Soviet Empire?  I've got news for you:  NONE of them want it.  What a nut case you are.