Fox News “Medical A-Team” member Dr. Keith Ablow attributed Russian president Valdimir Putin's decision to invade Crimea in part “to the psychology of Barack Obama.” 

In a March 11 FoxNews.com column, Ablow claimed that Putin's motivations should not be dismissed as those of a “simple thug,” but rather that “Putin's psychology is being directly fueled by that of President Barack Obama.” Ablow criticized Obama as unwilling to assert both personal and nationalistic power, arguing that “Barack Obama apparently believes he was placed on this earth to be the most powerful person he can be, in order to restrain America in the expression of its power.”

Ablow went on to imply that Obama's domestic policy was the catalyst for Putin's decision to invade Ukraine:

How then could Vladimir Putin fail to notice the remarkable presence on the world stage of an American counterpart (Barack Obama) who is as interested as he is in disempowering the United States? How could he fail to act on the remarkable symmetry of such a moment in history? To not test the possibility that God intends him to be the instrument of a new world order, based on Russia's manifest destiny, would be contrary to every fiber in his being.

To go further, I do not believe that Vladimir Putin would miss the fact that Barack Obama has imperiled the notion of individual autonomy (by seeking to disarm Americans, by seeking to make Americans dependent on unemployment checks and food stamps and by making it officially impossible to choose how to spend your own money, via the Affordable Care Act). Since giving each individual the right to power is not the goal of this American President, why would Putin believe that taking power from others would be opposed vigorously by this President's Administration?

Ablow concluded that “If Crimea becomes part of Russia or all of Ukraine does,” Putin and Obama's psychology will share the blame equally.