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While Putin and the Russians are obviously a threat to the U.S. in some ways, they're not nearly as dangerous as the Chinese, or our own government for that matter. The crisis in the Ukraine was a helped along with plenty of support from the Obama administration - trying to install a U.S. friendly regime.
What you're seeing today from a U.S. foreign policy standpoint is a desperate attempt to maintain the status quo in terms of balance of power. It's a losing game, as the U.S. empire is in steep decline, and you can bet things will only get worse - much worse - in the future. The U.S. is no longer "bargaining" from a position of overwhelming power, and the rest of the countries in the world are going to be more than eager to kick us in the backside at the earliest opportunity.
While Putin can't be trusted, the U.S. government hardly has a stellar record in that department either. I find Putin to be much more predictable than say the Communist leaders of the 1980s - he'll do what's in Russia's best interest - "Russia First". Replacing the crime lords that took over when the cold war ended with a more efficient national government has made Putin wildly - and I mean wildly - popular with Russians. It's odd - as a person who was stationed at a SAC base in the 1980s - how my view of the Russians has completely reversed in the last 35 years. They are still a threat, but no longer the bad guys compared to our own Federal government.
Historically, eastern Europe was viewed as a buffer zone for Russian security, but I'm not sure that's still the case. The Flynn affair should be examined more from the viewpoint of internal U.S. government power plays, and less from the interaction with the Russians - who are already denying the media reports. North Korea is just noise - they're still a puppet of the Chinese.
The real action is, and will continue to be, in the Middle East. As the American Empire declines, expect the free-for-all for control of world's declining petroleum reserves to heat up. Some say "it's the economy, stupid", which translates to "it's about oil, stupid...."
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