The diminutive shirtless sociopath that has control of Russia has what he most desires: the world’s rapt attention. We hear so much about this man, but know so little except snippets about his service in the KGB and his desire to reconstruct the old Soviet empire.

Putin will be 70 years old in October, which explains his public relations effort to look virile and manly. Many people don’t realize that this man who has essentially returned Russia to dictatorship came to power only by the grace of the democracy movement. If Mikhail Gorbachev hadn’t let the wall fall and the Soviet Union had not collapsed, it is likely Putin would have been just another forgotten retired mid-level foreign intelligence officer.

In his younger years, Putin studied Law at Leningrad University and was mentored by a professor who became a leading reform politician of the perestroika period. Perestroika was the political and economic reform movement begun by Leonid Brezhnev and Gorbachev. The movement opened Russia to market-based economics and signaled a new era of hopeful global partnerships.

In 1990, Putin retired from the KGB as a lieutenant colonel having served a significant tour in East Germany. He then joined Leningrad University in the role of external communication coordinator under his old mentor, Anatoly Sobchak. Sobchak became the first democratically elected mayor of St. Petersburg and by 1994, Putin was first deputy mayor.

Putin was an adept political player. He moved to Moscow and became part of the presidential staff and quickly moved up the administrative ladder until President Boris Yeltsin made Putin director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor agency to the old KGB. Next, Putin became secretary of the powerful Security Council.

Reportedly, Yeltsin had been searching for a successor. Yeltsin’s health and drinking were affecting his ability to function effectively. Yeltsin appointed Putin prime minister in 1999.  Putin became a popular public figure when he directed a bloody but effective military operation against secessionist rebels in Chechnya.

Putin formed a new electoral bloc and saw his group essentially take a majority in parliamentary elections. On New Year’s Eve 1999, Yeltsin abruptly announced his resignation and the appointment of Putin as acting president.

Twenty-three years have passed since he was appointed to office. He won his first election in March 2000 with 53% of the vote, promising to rebuild Russia and fight corruption.

In the years since that first win, he has been elected three more times to either the presidency or (when the Russian constitution prevented it), a surrogate was elected and then Putin was appointed prime minister, still holding power. Eventually with the entire political machine in his control, he convinced the Russian parliament to modify the constitution, essentially giving him the right to rule for life.

Through the years opponents have been jailed, poisoned or suddenly disappeared from public view. Putin’s attitude towards America has continued to sour since the George W. Bush administration abandoned the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2001. Along with France and Germany, Putin opposed the plans of the Americans and British to oust Saddam Hussein from Iraq.

Putin was instrumental in helping broker a deal to assist the U.S. in destroying a stockpile of Syrian chemical weapons. This also helped Putin establish a relationship with Syrian-backed rebel militias, some of whom he is today intending to deploy to Ukraine.

The Ukrainian crisis began in 2014 when Russia’s puppet, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, fled to Moscow after months of resisting an insurgency and protests demanding autonomy and freedom from Russian influence.

Putin refused to recognize any interim Ukrainian government and dispatched troops to “safeguard” Russian interests. By early March, pro-Russian paramilitary groups, with assistance from Russian military intelligence and weapons, had effectively taken control of Crimea, which had been an autonomous Ukrainian republic.

On March 8, 2014, Putin declared that Crimea had always been a part of Russia and signed a treaty with the Republic of Crimea incorporating the peninsula into the Russian Federation.

Putin’s plan has always been simple and straightforward. Much like Adolph Hitler who longed to return lands separated from Germany and the Austrian-Hungarian Empire after World War I by the Allies, Putin wants to reunify the Soviet Empire.

Putin first gained the Russian people’s trust by promising stability, economic recovery and democratic freedoms. He made a lot of noise about stamping out corruption and curtailing the oligarchs, who made billions at the expense of the people.

He did improve the economy and turned Russia into a world petroleum producer. He kicked out the old financiers and media titans — and replaced them with his own set of billionaires and oligarchs. They now have something to lose, as do the Russian people.

Americans rescued Europe from Hitler and have tried to keep terrorism at bay in the Middle East. So it’s easy to understand our inclination to act against Putin.

But the better choice is to ask those with the most to lose to take Putin out of power: the Russian people.

America, her allies and every country that cares about human rights should sign a joint declaration to cease and desist all contact, business and communication with Russia and her representatives. Expel every Russian diplomat from every country. Starve Russia of food, attention, assets, media, money and any other product we can hold from them. Shut down shipping lanes, shut down all air transport. Unleash the cyber-hounds.

This will hurt us and the Russian people. But it is preferable to a nuclear “mistake,” once again being subservient to a global madman, or standing by while Putin kills innocents to reclaim lost glory.

World leaders must vocalize a unified desire for the Russian people to rise and demand Putin’s removal. The message should be: Revolt or starve. Every free nation should stand up and demand that invading a sovereign, democratic nation in the 21st century will not be tolerated.

The alternative is that we stand quietly and wait our turn to be conquered.