LOL! Too true Meanie!
I'm also very concerned. I don't think for one minute that Putin's threats are empty. In fact, I think he means every word of it. If you look at the man's career before politics and now the last 25 years he has been building up to this point for a long time. The worst thing we could do is underestimate his resolve and his ambition. He isn't lying when he talks of security, it just isn't the version he wants us to believe. He is solely interested in the security of Russia and his legacy and if that means aggressing, subjugating or otherwise coercing other countries into submission to achieve that goal, he will.
I'm pretty good with my history (not as good as some of course and I'm not educated in it either) but my own observations led me to draw parallels between today (recent history) and the late 1930's. The political landscape today is not that different than it was then, just different countries and different leaders playing different roles. We have a large cross-section of western society that is enamored with neo-fascist and some pretty hardline socialist ideologies. Not in a dogmatic sense, but they subscribe to the parts they like and think they can chuck the rest. What they don't realize is they don't work without hurting people in some way or another. You get the Bernie's and the Justin's mainly falling into this camp.
Then if you'll entertain me for a minute, in a WWII perspective you've got Russia in the role of Germany and China in the role of Japan. What would seal the deal is for Putin to roll through Ukraine like Hitler did Poland and just keep on going while everyone sits on their hands. Then China sees an opportunity and annexes Taiwan. The wild card is the crazy kid in NK....will he be somewhat ineffectual like Mussolini (makes life miserable for his people - didn't contribute much to Germany's successes) or does he unleash unholy hell on South Korea?
There is potential for a WWIII scenario and I'm pretty sure it will take only a spark in the wrong direction. The really scary part is looking at the numbers...Russia, China & NK have massive militaries of debatable potency. However, in today's context they make their WWII counterparts look like nothing more than schoolyard bullies.