Poor Vlad.

Things seem to be unraveling for him in the former Soviet Union. The Sochi Olympics have been more or less successful, but are far from the jewel in Putin’s crown that he might have hoped for considering the massive expense and disruption they represented. Russian athletes performed honorably, but it was far from the intimidating triumph he had hoped for and expected. And getting beat in hockey (by those pesky Finns, yet!), is almost too much to bear. So far, it appears the signature image, the iconic memory, to come out of Sochi, will be the sorry sight of Moscow Center hoods beating up a girl’s rock band while YouTube cameras recorded it for the whole world to virally view, over and over again.

Meanwhile, further distracting the world’s vision from the propaganda extravaganza in the Caucasus were events in the Ukraine, which at least as of this morning, seem to have hit a tipping point. According to early reports today, the pro-Putin Puppet President has left the capital, the Parliament is in open revolt against him, the demonstrators are walking around like they own the place, and the security police have joined them. Apparently, the Army refused orders to intervene.

Short of the President rallying regional military units in the ethnic Russian east of the nation and precipitating a full-scale civil war, or a military invasion by the Russians themselves, its difficult to see how Putin can salvage the situation, and even if he can, it will only be at the risk of provoking yet another Chechnya on their borders, this time, a secular one. He’s not going to be able to blame this one on the Muslims.

Its still too early to predict how this will all look a few months from now, after all, the Russians have never been shy about employing brute force to solve a complex issue. But even if they can pull it off, it will cost them dearly in the long run. Well, I’ve never been shy about making long-shot predictions. I think its the beginning of the end for Putin. His days are numbered.