Spot on!
Putin simply harkens back to a 1970's Soviet Union where Russia played a dominant role on world politics.
His plan to rekindle the Soviet Union past is to expand Russia's borders by invading its neighbors. First Georgia. Next Crimea. Now the Ukraine proper.
He counts, rightly, among his supporters, those on the west who idiotically believe whatever excuse is proposed for Russia's latest aggression. Thankfully the west seems to have awoken.
Russia is the analogue to Nazi Germany circa 1930-1940. And the West has finally realized this (mostly - I'm looking at you few idiots who believe otherwise, beholden to Putin's propaganda).
I don't think he's thought it, through.
Firstly, Russia doesn't have the money. A population of 145 million with a GDP of about 1.7 trillion. Compare that to Italy with a population of 60 million and a GDP of 2.1 trillion. Most of the countries Putin has his eye on are economically stronger (relatively) than Russia are now.
Secondly he doesn't have the manpower to maintain an empire. If you look at the Russian population demographics, there is a huge hole where men of fighting age should be:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Russia
Thirdly, the USSR came out of the ashes of WWII and the spectre of Nazism meant a lot of people were willing to accept communism as a necessary evil in the early years. The alternative now is liberal democracy, which is infinitely more appealing.
Fourth, he doesn't understand that the USSR collapsed because it was bankrupted by the West, in particular Reagan, due in large part to the enormous expense of the Russian Afghanistan campaign. It'll be history repeating itself with the Ukraine.
I think Russia will end up like Iran, a pariah state. Some countries will trade with them; China & India because they can, North Korea because they don't care, but their economic development will fall further and further behind and their influece on the world stage will wane until Putin dies and a more moderate leadership takes over.
