It seems like only yesterday when Russian President Vladimir Putin stepped up and saved the Obama Administration from following through on its threat to use military force to rid Syria of its chemical weapons of mass destruction.

Putin assured the world that he would protect us all by overseeing the removal of the deadly chemicals being used against rebels in the Syrian civil war. That was back in September of 2013.

By the end of February 2014, Russia was receiving worldwide praise for not only hosting a great XXII Winter Olympics, but also winning the most medals, too.

It was the perfect moment to invade Crimea, the heavily Russian region of Ukraine on the Black Sea coast very near Sochi, the site of the Olympic Games.

Putin won his own medal by invading Crimea and returning a strategic portion of Ukraine to the old Soviet Union.

The world shuddered but soon forgot about it as the 24-hour news cycle became transfixed by the mysterious Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The Crimean invasion became a footnote in current events, as the Indian Ocean became the focus of world-wide media attention.

Then, just as the mud began to slide in the tragedy that is now Oso and Darrington, Washington, the Group of Eight Nations — the United States, Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, Italy, France, Germany and Russia — became the Group of Seven Nations as Russia was thrown out of the alliance’s Belgian summit. Sanctions against Putin’s regime are still being discussed, but it appears that Russia has no intention of returning Crimea to Ukraine.

A Russian historian was arrested this week for comparing the Russian invasion of Crimea to the 1938 Nazi invasion of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, shortly after the Berlin Olympics in 1936. Hitler justified the annexation of the Sudetenland because it was largely populated by Germans. This is the same argument made by Putin as Crimeans are largely native Russians.

The Powerful G7 Nations and representatives of the European Union are still pondering how to keep Putin in line.

Maybe the Powerful G7 Nations can hold out until this weekend when the NCAA Sweet 16 becomes the Elite 8 on the road to the Final Four.

Maybe no one will notice that the Powerful G7 Nations are helpless as they try to punish the mighty Vladimir Putin and halt Russian aggression in its effort to reunite the old Soviet Union.

A native of Niles, Jack Strayer moved back home in 2009 after living and working in Washington, D.C. since 1976. Strayer has served as a congressional staffer, state legislative press secretary, federal registered lobbyist and Vice President of the National Center for Policy Analysis. He is a nationally recognized expert on federal health policy reform and led the fight for the enactment of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).