Putin is merely moving into the vacuum created by the failure of leadership from the Current Occupant now squatting in the White Hut.
Simple physics, really. If The Won would respond in even a clumsy way, by taking the game TO Putin (exporting natural gas to Europe via cryogenic and pressurized tankers would be a start), the situation would quickly subside, but that would presuppose that the Current Regime would begin to reverse so much of its anti-energy agenda that is now part of its legacy.
The democrats are astoundingly stupid, aren’t they? Well, just look at our Secretary of State, Murphy’s former Senate colleague. He’s busy trying to mobilize his international faggot army to go fight global warming, and now he’s clueless when a real crisis comes along.