Vladimir Putin is determined to piece the Soviet Union back together by force. NATO and the United States are currently powerless and unwilling to stop him. Europe is likely too fractured to present a united diplomatic front -- and, after more than half a century of U.S. protection, the continent doesn't have the defenses to repel the Russians.

And we all know how feckless and impotent the United Nations is -- particularly in this case, since the antiquated structure of the U.N. reflects the world as it was in the mid-20th century, and affords Russia veto power over U.N. actions.

So what are we left with? Just this: The only ones capable of halting Russia's growing aggression may the Russian people themselves.

Don't hold your breath.

A great number of Russians pine for the heady days of expansionist policies under the old Soviet Union. There's a deep strain of nationalism there that took a beating after the fall of the Soviet empire in 1991. Putin, murderous thug that he is, is bringing back the good old days.

Meanwhile, even those who don't want to go back in time are being fed a steady diet of disinformation by state-run media.

Consider this Russian news media tack on the country's brazen dismantling of nearby Georgia, as reported by The Times Online of London:

"Russians were told over breakfast yesterday what really happened in Georgia: the conflict in South Ossetia was part of a plot by Dick Cheney, the vice-president, to stop Barack Obama being elected president of the United States."

Adds The Times Online: "Modern Russia may be plugged into the internet and the global marketplace but in the battle for world opinion the Kremlin is replaying the old black-and-white movie."

It remains to be seen how much of the malarkey the Russian people will stand in lines to buy before they realize the pap they're being fed.

It also remains to be seen how far the Eastern Europeans can and will go to stave off future Russian aggression. Several former Soviet prisoner states made incredibly clean breaks from Russian domination with peaceful "revolutions" know for the colors adopted by the revolutionaries. Will they let their revolutions be de-colorized to reflect Putin's black-and-white movie?

Even there, the Russian disinformation campaign steps in with its lies, mocking the revolutionaries and pawns of the West in this quote from a former Russian ambassador to the European Union: "The West has spent a lot of time, energy and money to teach Georgia the tricks of the trade ... to make the country look like a democracy. We and many other nations see through this deceit. We understand that the seditious tactics of the so-called color revolutions are a real threat to international law and the source of global legal nihilism."

One can only hope that, with global communications and the Internet -- and being some 17 years into the post-Soviet era -- the truth can somehow seep into Russia.