It probably rubbed Russian citizens the wrong way when Obama hit them with sanctions that have driven them into poverty . Putin is at least as responsible if not more so , but if normalizing relations means improving the quality of life for the people stuck in that shithole then I ' m inclined to think it ' s not the worst thing . I never really saw the endgame to this whole Cold War Part 2 , either . What were ObamaClinton aiming to accomplish with all of their sanctions and posturing and proxy wars ? Were they trying to destabilize and force regime change running the risk of starting WWIII ? Were they trying to eliminate as much of Russia ' s global influence as possible ? None of that seems like a good plan to me .