Putin vs. the World: One plane crash may spell the end for Russian president's ambitious plan of conquest

World opinion continues to oppose Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the destruction of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine being the most notable and recent example of Russian interference in Ukraine.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Time and evidence has been against Putin since he annexed Crimea in early 2014, but the world is becoming increasingly hostile to the Russian leader, who is seen as stocking the flames in Ukraine as an opening move to create a new Russo-dominated, anti-American, eastern bloc.

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U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, spoke of the tragedy yesterday in an effort to get Europeans on board for further sanctions against Russia, in an effort to break Putin's support to the separatists in eastern Ukraine.

"We are trying to encourage our European friends to realize this is a wake-up call," said Kerry during a July 20 interview on Fox News Channel.

Several anonymous U.S. officials reported that the shooting down of a civilian airplane by Russian backed pro-Russian rebels has ignited anti-Putin sentiment throughout Europe and the wider world, and will encourage reluctant EU countries to join in on harsher sanctions.

This is giving President Obama confidence that the U.S. and EU will prevail over Putin in the short-term with tighter sanctions, just as he is confident that the U.S. will prevail in the long-term over a weak Russia that has overplayed an even weaker hand.

Kerry has visited five U.S. Sunday morning talk shows to make cases for further action.

"Since sanctions are the administration's default instrument of coercive statecraft, I would expect an escalation of U.S. sanctions pressure, specifically targeting more Russian financial institutions, energy companies and military firms," said Mark Dubowitz, an executive director of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a nonprofit group that is highly focused on national security issues.

"People are looking for sanctions that are severe enough to change Putin's mind, but won't do harm to the U.S. and European economies," said Andrew Weiss, the vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a specialist in Russia and Eurasian relations.

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