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After weeks of shaking his first and warning that soon … any day now … the U.S. would take retaliatory measures against Moscow for hacking into U.S. computers and messing with the election, Obama finally unveiled his plan: 35 spies would be kicked out of the country, sanctions imposed on some high-level intelligence officials, and a pair of luxury getaways used by Russian diplomats would be closed down. No more beachside holidays for you, Boris!

Even the liberal-minded New York Times couldn’t bring itself to pretend the response was impressive. “It is definitely too late, and may also be too little,” it editorialized, while acknowledging the Russians certainly deserved it.

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But too little, too late is what has come to be expected of Obama. Ask the people of Syria about that. While Kerry, the secretary of state, shuttled ridiculously in and out of European capitals for fruitless talks with Russian leaders in search of an end to the Syrian carnage, Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad rained down death with Putin’s support, approval and supplies. Russia has vastly increased its influence throughout the Middle East during Obama’s presidency, having correctly concluded that Obama was all talk and no resolve. Maybe we should expect another speech from Kerry blaming Russia for Washington’s slow fade into irrelevance.

It would be “sad” (which may be Donald Trump’s favourite word) if it didn’t border so closely on the ridiculous. With just a few weeks left in office, the U.S. president suddenly decides to settle scores? What was stopping him over the past seven years, when he allowed Putin to seize the Crimea, disrupt Ukraine, put NATO on the defensive and turn Syria into a client state? Was he waiting for authorization from higher authority, and, if so, who would that higher authority be? Certainly not the Congress: much of the Republican-controlled Congress would have been overjoyed to see Obama deploy just a little of the vast military, economic and diplomatic muscle the U.S. retains. But Obama never seemed to know what to do with U.S. power, other than let it fester unused while stronger wills took advantage of his indecision.