So, Vlad the dictator is evil. When you order your army to attack civilians with deadly weapons, you are evil. You may be shrewd, short, balding, and beady-eyed, but the evilness kind of overshadows all that.

The question now becomes how to defeat Putin. Did I mention he's evil? Most people want to crush him, but not all. Incredibly, there are those who say Russia has a perfect right to inflict violence on Ukraine because that country was courting the west. Therefore, Russia was "threatened."

There is dumb, and there is dumber. That point of view is the dumbest.

Who in the west is threatening Russia? Joe Biden? Old Joe? You may remember Putin stole Crimea away from Ukraine in 2014, and President Obama did little about it. A few sanctions. Putin yawned. Biden said nothing as Vice President.

Is Germany threatening Russia? How about Lithuania? The truth is that all NATO countries do everything they can to avoid conflict. Most don't even pay their dues.

But Putin is threatened.

Sure.

Vlad is emotionally damaged, of that, I am sure. And he controls nukes that could barbecue the world. So, he has to go, and his "war crimes" in Ukraine provide a nice excuse to see that happen.

The initial sanctions are ripping up the Russian economy, the 17th largest in the world. Remember, the Russian people don't have very much to begin with, so destitution can set in fast.

The Ruble has lost about 40 percent of its value since Putin decided to murder civilians in Ukraine. Now, major credit card companies are refusing any charges made in Russia, denying people purchasing power. No longer easy to step out on the steppes. Nyet good, right former comrade?

To break Putin, more sanctions are needed, and so is a ramp-up in western and Saudi oil production, so nobody buys fuel from Russia. The climate warriors will howl, but I say this: you really want to see Global Warming? Just wait til Putin drops a thermal on Brussels!

How about we all wise up? It's time.

If the west can bring down Putin using economics, that friendly guy Xi in China will certainly get the message. And the world might be saved from a catastrophic Communist invasion of Taiwan.

Therefore, Putin must be defeated, and economic strangulation is the best way to do that. A shooting war could kill hundreds of thousands. It's the last resort.

But crippling Russia's capacity to conduct commerce is doable, and, eventually, the folks will turn on dictator Vlad and his evil madness.

Let's give the SOB a devil of a time.