Putin the boot in is the only way to save Ukraine

Confronting Russia in the only viable option.

I joked earlier in the week that I was taking some time off to visit Russia. After all it seemed only fair as Russia looked like it was about to be visiting me!

It raised a few nervous chuckles but, joking apart, I doubt even Paddy Power would bet against the tumult in the Ukraine escalating into a full-blown military conflict.

Certainly not if Vladimir keeps Putin the boot in to the Ukrainians and running rings round inept and craven Western leaders.

Loathe or hate the wee man, President Putin has to be admired if only for his unflappable spirit, ice-cold determination and loyalty to Mother Russia.

He is not someone you would want to play poker with as he plays to win at any cost and wouldn’t know a straight deck if it landed on his head.

He would make a great Bond baddie though if a remake of From Russia With Love was in the pipeline.

After all, he has all the credentials for the part. Ex-KGB spy chief, a paranoid genius who was brought up on a daily diet of hatred, mistrust and envy of the West.

A manipulative tyrant who has amassed billions of roubles by fair means or foul, mostly foul, and whose enemies have been terminally silenced or locked up in a Gulag.

He doesn’t stroke white purring cats. No, he grapples tigers, and rampages through Siberia, riding bareback and shooting bears!

He is also in total command of the biggest army and nuclear arsenal in the world and the Russians love him.

So who do we have to take him on? Who’s our hero in this time of need? Well it’s not David “Mr Bean” Cameron or wee Willie Haig.

Muscovites could be forgiven for thinking there’s an earthquake every time they open their mouths as the Kremlin rocks with laughter at the thought.

And as for the threat of economic sanctions, we all know that was never going to happen when there’s the precious City to protect. What of other Western leaders?

President Hollande of France has been almost invisible and stony-faced Chancellor Merkel of Germany has politely avoided any threats of sanctions in case Putin pulls the plug on Germany’s oil and gas investments.

That leaves the USA and, here at least, we have some fighting spirit, although they have the least to lose if sanctions are imposed.

John Kerry and Hilary Clinton are at least standing up to Putin, with Hilary warning the world that Putin’s actions in Crimea echo those of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in the 1930s.

However President Obama looks decidedly shaky, just as he did over Libya, Afghanistan, Egypt and Syria.

If the West are to ever make any inroads against Putin, they must play him at his own game.

We must show togetherness, strength of purpose and indomitable spirit, not confused and craven weakness. Wide-ranging tough economic sanctions must be imposed without delay.

Then we should kick Putin out of the playground that is the G8, the UN Security Council and any other club he belongs to.

We must embarrass the man, make him look small and weak to his people but, most importantly, stop pandering to his outrageous and xenophobic demands.

It’s time to give this bully a bloody nose.