House GOP sues over Obamacare

• Boehner announced Friday his plans to sue the President over his health care law


• The news came right after Boehner criticized President Barack Obama's immigration plans

Washington (CNN) -- House Speaker John Boehner said Friday he has sued the Obama Administration in federal court over its decisions to make changes to the President's health care law, which congressional Republicans argue were unconstitutional.

The move was expected for months -- the GOP-controlled House of Representatives voted to approve the lawsuit in July. But Boehner had trouble retaining a law firm that would take the case because of the political furor over the controversial health care law.

"Time after time, the President has chosen to ignore the will of the American people and re-write federal law on his own without a vote of Congress. That's not the way our system of government was designed to work," Boehner said in statement on Friday.

He added, "if this President can get away with making his own laws, future presidents will have the ability to as well. The House has an obligation to stand up for the Constitution, and that is exactly why we are pursuing this course of action."

Frenemies: Pres. Obama & Speaker Boehner

Boehner responds to immigration order

News of the lawsuit came just minutes after Boehner held a press conference on Friday to respond to the President's plan to circumvent Congress in order to make sweeping changes to the nation's immigration system by executive order.

The one-two punch from Boehner marks a new era of tension between Republicans who will officially take over Congress in January, and the President who has signaled that despite his party's losses in the midterms, he plans to proceed with his agenda without GOP cooperation.

After two Washington firms pulled out of commitments to represent the House in recent months, Boehner hired George Washington law professor Jonathan Turley earlier this week. Turley is an expert on constitutional law and has appeared on multiple television networks as a legal analyst.

Boehner and other top congressional Republican leaders are also contemplating a filing a separate lawsuit challenging the president's authority to take executive action to give 5 million immigrants temporary status.

RELATED: Boehner hires third lawyer to sue Obama

The Obamacare complaint cites two specific actions by the Obama Administration regarding the implementation of the health care law. The first zeroes in on the decision to delay for one year the requirement that employers with over 50 employees provide health care coverage or pay penalties. The second maintains it was illegal for the Treasury Department to transfer of billions of dollars that Congress has not approved to insurance companies to share the costs of providing new health plans.

The case, filed in U.S. District court for the District of Columbia, names both the Secretaries of the Health and Human Services and the Treasury Departments, but not the President personally.

House Republicans agreed that Obamacare's so-called "employer mandate" should be postponed. The House passed a bill last summer to do so, but GOP members maintain that the president's decision to act unilaterally on the delay circumvented Congress' role to pass laws.

Under the Affordable Care Act insurance companies who provide health care coverage to new customers are eligible for receive money from a government cost-sharing program to offer discounted deductibles and co-payments. But Congress never approved any new funds for this purpose, and the suit says that an estimated $3 billion will be paid out by the Treasury Department in 2014 is an illegal action. If Treasury continues to pay out money for this cost-sharing program a total of $178 billion could be paid to insurance companies over the next 10 years. The Republican lawsuit argues this ignores Congress' power of the purse under the Constitution.

RELATED: Oops! Obamacare enrollment stats fudged

The White House dismissed the lawsuit in a statement shortly after its announcement.

"Instead of passing legislation to help expand the middle class and grow the economy, Speaker Boehner and House Republicans are spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars pursuing a lawsuit that is without any sound legal basis," said White House spokeswoman Brandi Hoffine.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi called the case "meritless" on Friday.

"The fact is, this lawsuit is a bald-faced attempt to achieve what Republicans have been unable to achieve through the political process. The legislative branch cannot sue simply because they disagree with the way a law passed by a different Congress has been implemented. It is clear, as one leading legal scholar put it, that this lawsuit is 'an embarrassing loser,'" Pelosi said in a written statement .

Some constitutional experts question whether the court will actually move forward with the case from House Republicans, and point out that it could be difficult to demonstrate that the Congress was damaged as an institution by the Administration's actions.

The U.S. Supreme Court already announced this month that it was reviewing a separate legal challenge to Obamacare -- one focused on tax credits for those buying health care coverage on the federal insurance exchange.

On immigration, Boehner said that Congress "will not stand idle as the President undermines the rule of law, " but gave no specifics on how congressional Republicans would respond to the President's executive action.

Boehner told reporters that by moving ahead with unilateral action, the president chose to "deliberately sabotage any chance of enacting bipartisan reform that he claims to seek."

In a less than five minute press conference on Capitol Hill, the Speaker said he told the President on Thursday "he's damaging the presidency itself."

Pressed if congressional Republicans would try to block the president's executive actions by moving legislation to strip funding from federal agencies, Boehner sidestepped the question and instead said he was reviewing various actions with his members.

"The House will in fact act," the Speaker promised.

Due to deep divisions inside the House GOP conference there is no consensus yet on how to try to block the president's plan.

Many conservatives want to attach a provision to a must pass spending bill to strip funding for federal agencies to carry out the president's plan. But the chairman of the spending panel argues that is impossible because the customs agency is self-funded through fees and doesn't need congressional appropriations. And many Republicans on Capitol Hill worry another fight on a spending bill will lead to another government shutdown. Others are pushing to sue the president, or vote on censuring him.

The clock is ticking for Boehner -- government agencies run out of money on Dec. 11.

L.A. schools' abuse settlement a record

• NEW: $139 million is largest settlement against "a public entity involving child abuse"


• NEW: Settlement comes a week before cases were to go to civil trial


• The district will pay $139.2 million to families of 81 children allegedly abused by a teacher


• A 30-year veteran teacher is now serving a 25-year sentence for lewd conduct

Los Angeles (CNN) -- The Los Angeles public school district will pay more than $139.2 million to the families of 81 children allegedly abused by an elementary teacher now serving a prison sentence for lewd conduct, officials said Friday.

John Manly, one of the plaintiffs' attorney, called the amount "the largest settlement in the history of the United States against a public entity involving child abuse."

The settlement comes after the district earlier paid $30 million to settle 63 other students' claims alleging they were victims of sexually lewd acts by Mark Berndt of Miramonte Elementary.

A teacher for 30 years, Berndt is now serving a 25-year prison sentence for putting pupils in bondage, and then photographing them with semen-filled spoons held at their mouths and 3-inch cockroaches crawling across their faces.

"I cannot imagine what it would be like for a parent to try to explain to their little girl or their little boy (what happened to them). I can't explain it. I was going to have a difficult time explaining it to a jury," Manly said.

Manly contended there were "two perpetrators:" Berndt and "those in successive (school) administrations from 1983 to the present who ignored and in some instances actively concealed what he was doing."

The cases involving 81 children were set to go to trial in a week, and the settlement money would be used for children's counseling, plaintiffs' attorneys said.

"What transpired at Miramonte was nothing less than emotional mass murder by Mark Berndt," Manly said.

Berndt had pleaded no contest to felony lewd acts on 23 children. The scandal led to more than 100 students suing the district, claiming that they, too, were victims.

The more than $139 million settlement "resolves the remaining Miramonte litigation at issue," the district said in a statement. "The school board extended itself and significant financial resources to resolve these cases because it allowed these students and families to avoid potentially painful litigation. Moreover, it is in the best interest of the school district's financial future."

Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines said the settlement spares "the Miramonte community the anguish of a protracted trial, while at the same time being mindful of the financial consequences stemming from settlements."

The settlement strikes "a balance between those objectives," Cortines said in a statement.

"There is a sacred trust put in us to protect the children we serve. While we know Mr. Berndt went to extreme lengths to hide his conduct, we know that our job protecting students is never done," the schools chief said.

Dave Holmquist, general counsel, said the money "will provide for the future needs of these students."

"We are glad that this will help close this chapter for these families. We remain committed to helping them continue the process of healing," Holmquist said.

In the criminal case against Berndt, the 23 alleged victims were between 7 and 10 years old, and all but two of them were girls, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has said.

In December 2010, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department began investigating Berndt after authorities learned of hundreds of "questionable photographs of children on film that Mr. Berndt had brought (to) a local store to have developed," according to Tuesday's lawsuit.

Berndt was removed from his teaching job in January 2011 after school officials learned of the police investigation, authorities said.

Authorities have said they have discovered roughly 600 images allegedly taken by Berndt in his classroom.

Berndt initially challenged the school district's decision to dismiss him. But he eventually dropped his appeal and resigned in spring 2011.

Mr. President, forget something?

Washington (CNN) -- He's got a lot on his mind -- can you blame him?

Friday afternoon President Barack Obama was scheduled to travel to Las Vegas, Nevada to deliver a speech on his sweeping changes to the nation's immigrations system, when he did something unusual.

He surprised the press, gathered on the South Lawn for his departure, by exiting Marine 1 shortly after he boarded.

Secret Service agents hustled to follow him as he walked briskly back to the White house and announced he had forgotten something inside.

After a short time the President reappeared.

"Do you guys ever forget something?" the President asked the group.

With a grin on his face Obama reached under his jacket to reveal the forgotten item. "Blackberry!"

The President boarded Marine 1 and the press watched it depart for Andrews Air Force Base as scheduled.

'I made Obama's BlackBerry'

Bill Cosby faces more allegations

• NEW: Two more women have made allegations; Cosby's lawyer says they're incredulous


• Cosby has either denied or declined to address numerous allegations against him


• That hasn't stopped parade of accusers who say he drugged, sexually assaulted them


• Lawsuit alleged 13 Jane Does had similar accusations; several have surfaced recently

(CNN) -- It seems lately as if every day brings another allegation that further dismantles Bill Cosby's image as the jovial, pudding-loving patriarch whose family-friendly brand of comedy tickled successive generations.

Though the star has vehemently denied most of the accusations that he drugged and sexually assaulted young women seeking career guidance, the stories are taking their toll on his reputation and bankroll.

The stories of Cosby's purported misdeeds have been around for about a decade, but they recently got new life when a comedian took aim at him and a social media stunt inviting fans to meme the comic went awry.

Cosby, 77, has never faced a judge or jury, let alone been convicted, over the allegations. But it's clear many people have already tried him in their minds.

Brother of Cosby accuser speaks out

Cosby asks AP not to show footage

'We needed forensics' against Cosby

Ex-supermodel among Cosby accusers

Prosecuting rape accusations

Cosby's lawyer: Dickinson's claims lies

Who is Camille Cosby?

When an NPR reporter gave him a chance to deny the allegations, Cosby provided an awkward moment of radio silence, refusing to answer the question. Given the same chance by The Associated Press, he offered no comment. When the interview concluded, he told a reporter that asking him about the allegations was a mark of low integrity and said he'd be appreciative if that portion of the interview was "scuttled."

Here's a rundown of the alleged events altering Cosby's image:

Linda Joy Traitz

Linda Joy Traitz has a criminal record in Florida and spent time in prison on a conviction of drug trafficking, according to state records.

Cosby's lawyer, Martin D. Singer, passed on her lengthy rap sheet as an indication to her character.

But Traitz spoke openly about her record to CNN, including her last arrest in 2008, which led to more than three years in prison for drug trafficking and possession.

"When I got sent to prison ... it saved my life," she said. "It was a great experience for me." It ended her addiction to pain pills, and she's been clean ever since, she said.

Numerous arrests speckle Traitz' rap sheet, including on suspicion of theft, battery and types of deception -- fraud and impersonation -- often in connection with drug possession.

She said Cosby pushed himself on her when she worked as a waitress at a restaurant in Los Angeles that Cosby co-owned when she met him in 1969.

Billboard Magazine mentioned Cosby co-owned a restaurant in a 1970 article.

Traitz was either 18 or 19 at the time, she said; she did not recall exactly. But she was fresh out of high school and new to the city, she said.

Cosby offered her a ride home but on the way, told her he'd like to swing by the beach with her in his Rolls Royce, she said. They parked, and he offered her drugs, an array of brightly colored pills, "to relax," she alleged.

She said no, a few times. "He kept offering me the pills," she alleged, and it made her feel uncomfortable. She claimed that he then groped her chest, pushing her down in the seat and toward the door, and tried to lay on top her.

She got out of the car and ran, she said. She added that she was "absolutely not" raped. He tried to calm her, she said, then drove her home in silence.

Cosby's attorney said her account was not true.

"Ms. Traitz is the latest example of people coming out of the woodwork with fabricated or unsubstantiated stories about my client," Singer said in a statement.

Louisa Moritz

"We've reached a point of absurdity."

That was the reaction of Cosby's attorney when former actress Louisa Moritz told her story to entertainment website TMZ.

"The stories are getting more ridiculous. Now this woman is claiming that something occurred more than 40 years ago and that while she was waiting in the dressing room to appear on the Tonight Show, my client forced his penis into her mouth," the statement read.

That is what TMZ reported that Moritz alleged.

She was in the green room at NBC in New York, when Cosby paid her a visit, she alleges. He offered to turn her into a "major star through his direction," she told TMZ.

Then he forced himself on her, she alleged.

Moritz was known for her roles mostly as a blonde bombshell, according to her IMDb profile. She is probably best known for her role as a prostitute in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

In real life, she was anything but mindless, IMDb wrote. She was a licensed lawyer in California, and made the dean's list in law school.

Singer also called her credibility into question over disciplinary action the state bar took against her over a legal fee.

She received as a disciplinary measure a "public reproval" in 2013 after taking a legal fee for work that was not performed. She refunded the fee, after the client complained to the bar, according to documents.

In September this year, Moritz, who is 68, did not respond to a notice of disciplinary charges, and as a result, a court recommended her disbarment.

CNN made multiple calls to numbers listed for Moritz, and has not been able to reach her.

Andrea Constand

In January 2004, Constand, then a 31-year-old staffer for the women's basketball team at Temple University -- Cosby's alma mater -- was at the comedian's Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, home when Cosby provided her medication that made her dizzy, she alleged the following year.

She later woke up to find her bra undone and her clothes in disarray, she further alleged to police in her home province of Ontario, Canada, in January 2005.

Though his attorney initially called Constand's claim "utterly preposterous" and no charges were filed, Cosby settled a civil suit with Constand that alleged 13 Jane Does had similar stories of sexual abuse.

When Cosby attorney John Schmitt this week sent out a blanket denial of several allegations that have cropped up recently, he later amended his denial to say he wasn't referring to Constand, who resolved her differences "to the mutual satisfaction of Mr. Cosby and Ms. Constand years ago."

Joan Tarshis

Tarshis was a 19-year-old actress in 1969 when, she says, she met Cosby in Los Angeles. The two became friendly. One night after taping his sitcom, he invited her back to his bungalow and fixed her a "redeye" (a Bloody Mary topped with beer), she alleged this month.

"The next thing I remember was coming to on his couch while being undressed," she told Hollywood Elsewhere. "I was sickened by what was happening to me and shocked that this man I had idolized was now raping me. Of course I told no one."

It was the first of two similar incidents, said Tarshis, who is now a journalist and publicist.

Carla Ferrigno

The now-wife of "The Incredible Hulk" star Lou Ferrigno told CNN that Cosby forcibly kissed her at his home in 1967.

Carla Ferrigno said she told her husband, whom she married in 1980, about the incident about five years ago and he advised her to stay silent.

"I am going public (now) because I am just one more person who puts the nail in his coffin," she said.

A Cosby lawyer called the media coverage of the allegation "utter nonsense."

"This continuing pattern of attacks on Mr. Cosby has entered the realm of the ridiculous, with a purported 'forceful kiss' at a party in 1967, nearly 50 years ago, being treated as a current 'news story' and grossly mischaracterized as a 'sexual assault,'" attorney Singer said in a statement.

Carla Ferrigno was an 18-year-old Playboy Bunny when she went with a male friend to Cosby's house. The comedian and his wife went to a movie with Ferrigno and her date, then returned to Cosby's home in Beverly Hills.

She told CNN that Cosby's wife disappeared while the other three played pool.

After her date left the room, Cosby grabbed her, pulled her to him and kissed her, she said.

"It was so unexpected and so rough. He kissed me right in the mouth."

Tamara Green

In 1970, attorney Green was an aspiring model in her early 20s. At a working lunch with Cosby and others, she was suffering from the flu and Cosby "went into some sort of office area at the back of the restaurant and he produced two capsules in his hand," she told Matt Lauer of the "Today Show." At first, they made her feel "great" and then left her "almost literally face down on the table of this restaurant."

Cosby took her to her apartment and started "groping me and kissing me and touching me and handling me and you know, taking off my clothes," Green said. After telling Cosby "that if he didn't kill me and he tried to rape me, it was going to go very badly," he left two $100 bills on her coffee table and left, she said in her 2005 allegation.

A lawyer for Cosby told the show, "Miss Green's allegations are absolutely false. Mr. Cosby does not know the name Tamara Green or (maiden name) Tamara Lucier, and the incident she describes did not happen.

Janice Dickinson

Cosby was a familiar face in 1982, not only for his comedy, but also for his Jell-O and Coca-Cola commercials. Dickinson was a supermodel in her late 20s.

Dickinson alleged this week that she and Cosby had dinner in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and he gave her a glass of red wine and a pill she believed was for menstrual cramps.

"The last thing I remember was Bill Cosby in a patchwork robe, dropping his robe and getting on top of me. And I remember a lot of pain," she told "Entertainment Tonight."

Cosby's attorney, Singer, said in a statement that Dickinson's allegation was a "fabricated lie" that contradicted what she wrote in her autobiography and what she said during a 2002 New York Observer interview.

Beth Ferrier

Ferrier told media outlets in 2005 that she met Cosby in Denver in the mid-'80s. He mentored her for a time, but one night, she said, he gave her a drugged cappuccino.

"I woke up in my car in the parking lot with my clothes all a mess," she said. "I wondered, I still wonder, 'What did he do with me? Why was my bra unhooked?' "

The two later conducted an "on-and-off consensual affair" that lasted several years, she alleged to People magazine.

Prosecutor: I thought Cosby was lying

Janice Dickinson accuses Cosby of rape

The Bill Cosby abuse allegations timeline

Is silence good? Cosby Rape Allegations

"He kept luring me in," Ferrier told the magazine. "I felt like I couldn't say no."

At the time, Cosby's publicist told People that he had no comment.

Barbara Bowman

In 1985, when Cosby was starring in his eponymous No. 1 TV show as a doting, wisecracking dad and doctor, Bowman, a 17-year-old model and actress, met Cosby in Denver. She came forward with her allegations in 2006 and recently wrote a column in The Washington Post questioning why no one listened to her the first time.

According to Bowman's account, Cosby visited her numerous times, giving her acting lessons and "flying me around to major cities to events," she told Newsweek. After she turned 18, Cosby "assaulted (me) a number of times." In an incident in New York, Bowman "had one glass of wine and then I blacked out. I woke up throwing up in the toilet. ... I was wearing a white T-shirt that wasn't mine, and he was in a white robe."

In an incident in Atlantic City, an angry Cosby "got on top of me and started taking his pants off and I was screaming and crying and begging him to leave me alone and I fought so hard and I was screaming so loud that he got mad and threw me aside and got away from me, and that was it."

The Cosby camp replied, "Over the last several weeks, decade-old, discredited allegations against Mr. Cosby have resurfaced. The fact that they are being repeated does not make them true. Mr. Cosby does not intend to dignify these allegations with any comment."

And here is a rundown of how the allegations are affecting his career:

Netflix

On the Netflix website, it still lists the availability of "Bill Cosby 77" as "coming soon." However, the streaming and DVD service announced this week that the stand-up comedy special, filmed before a live audience in July, will not premiere the day after Thanksgiving as planned.

The company did not elaborate, issuing a statement that said only, "At this time we are postponing the launch of the new stand up comedy special 'Bill Cosby 77.'"

A Netflix spokeswoman declined to comment further.

NBC

NBC has also decided against moving forward with its own Cosby project.

The network said Wednesday that it has opted to stop developing the comedy show, which was billed this summer as a "classic, big extended-family sitcom" revolving around Cosby.

"We can confirm that the Cosby project is no longer in development," NBC said.

The network had no further comment.

TV Land

TV Land, one of the networks that have reruns of "The Cosby Show" in their lineups, quietly removed the sitcom from its programming schedule Wednesday.

TV Land also deleted the "Cosby Show" page from its website.

The channel did not respond to requests for comment about the disappearance of the show.

CNN's AnneClaire Stapleton, Todd Leopold and Brian Stelter contributed to this report.

Why Vladimir Putin thinks it's still 1985

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a Persian leopard cub at a breeding and rehabilitation center in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Perhaps the most important vote in Russia's public selection of a new Olympic mascot was cast when Putin said he wanted a funky leopard to represent the 2014 Sochi Winter Games. Browse through for more photos of Putin trying his hand at different activities.

Putin skis at the Laura Cross Country and Biathlon Centre near Sochi on January 3.

Putin visits a clinic where terrorist attack victims are being treated in Volgograd on January 1. The twin suicide strikes killed 34 and raised concerns over security at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games. Putin called Russia's deadliest bombings in three years an "abomination."

Putin holds a pike he caught in the Siberian Tuva region of Russia on July 20, 2013.

Putin enjoys some fishing during his vacation to the Tuva region on July 20, 2013. For years, Russia's leader has cultivated a populist image in the Russian media.

Putin submerges on board Sea Explorer 5 bathyscaphe near the isle of Gogland in the Gulf of Finland on July 15, 2013.

Putin studies a crane during an experiment called Flight of Hope on September 5, 2012, in which he piloted a hang glider, aiming to lead the birds into flight. It's part of a project to save the rare species of crane.

Putin takes part in a training session for young ice hockey players before the "Golden Puck" youth tournament final in Moscow on April 15, 2011.

Putin rides a Harley-Davidson to an international biker convention in southern Ukraine on July 14, 2010.

The Russian president aims at a whale with an arbalest (crossbow) to take a piece of its skin for analysis at Olga Bay on August 25, 2010 .

A wetsuit-clad Putin embarks on a dive to an underwater archaeological site at Phanagoria on the Taman Peninsula on August 10, 2011.

Famed for his love of martial arts, Putin throws a competitor in a judo session at an athletics school in St. Petersburg on December 18, 2009.

Putin during his vacation in southern Siberia on August 3, 2009.

Putin swims the butterfly during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in southern Siberia on August 3, 2009.

Assisted by a Russian scientist, Putin fixes a satellite transmitter to a tiger during his visit to the Ussuriysky forest reserve of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the Far East on August 31, 2008.

Putin carries a hunting rifle in the Republic of Tuva on September 3, 2007.

A shirtless Putin fishing in the headwaters of the Yenisei River in the Republic of Tuva on August 13, 2007.

Putin in the cockpit of a Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bomber jet at a military airport on August 16, 2005, before his supersonic flight.

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• Putin accused of fuelling separatist rebellion in mainly Russian-speaking east of Ukraine


• On international stage, Russia has been excluded from G8 group of industrialized nations


• But Russian leader appears unmoved, his Ukraine policy unchanged


• Putin told CNN's Matthew Chance: Russians should be given guarantees no one attacks us

Moscow (CNN) -- The first frosts of winter have already dusted the spectacular city of St. Petersburg with a powder of glistening ice. The air outside feels sharp and crisp. Russians hurry along the elegant boulevards, wrapped up tight against the biting cold. Russia's winter, its annual deep freeze, has begun.

But this year there's more than just a bitter chill in the air. For the past nine months relations with the West have become decidedly frosty too.

On the face of it the problem is Ukraine.

The West backed a popular uprising there in March, which toppled a Kremlin-friendly government.

Infuriated, Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, annexed the strategic Crimean Peninsula, where it has a key naval base.

Has Putin gone too far?

The cult of Putin's personality

Russia flexes its air muscle

By the numbers: Putin's firepower

Since then he has been accused of fuelling a separatist rebellion in the mainly Russian-speaking east of the country. That unrest has already cost more than 4,000 lives.

The United States and Europe have imposed costly sanctions and travel bans. It threatens more.

On the international stage, Russia has been excluded from the G8 group of industrialized nations. At the recent G20 summit in Brisbane, President Putin was cold-shouldered by his Western counterparts.

But the Russian leader appears unmoved, his Ukraine policy unchanged.

One fascinating explanation for the failure of Western sanctions and rebukes to change this vast country's behavior may be in the mindset, the world view, of its strongman president.

I'm one of the few Western journalists to have sat down with Vladimir Putin.

I met him at his residence outside Sochi in 2008, just after Russia's invasion of Georgia.

I asked him back then if he could guarantee that Russian troops would not invade other former Soviet states, like Ukraine.

He reacted quite angrily, saying he objected to my question. It was Russians, he said, who should be given guarantees that no one attacks us.

Russia's $730 billion war machine

Diplomatic speed dating at the U.N.

Does Putin want war in Ukraine?

Putin's fighters, missiles, warships

The comment sheds light, I think, on how Vladimir Putin sees the world outside the walls of the Kremlin.

For him, Russia is under constant threat from the West. NATO expansion into former Eastern Bloc nations has eroded Russia's security. The prospect of Georgia joining the western military alliance, let alone Ukraine, is unthinkable for him.

The Cold War, from this perspective, has never really ended; we're still living in the 1980s.

The West, in particular the United States, still strives to "subjugate" Russia. President Putin repeated this just a few days ago in Moscow.

Sanctions are an inevitable consequence of Russia's resistance to this subjugation. Ukraine was the motive, but if it had not been Ukraine it would likely have been something else.

From a Western perspective, this seems like a cynical distortion of the facts, a Kremlin ploy to confuse and obfuscate.

But it may help explain why Russia is doing what it is doing, and why sanctions are not changing -- and may never change -- Kremlin policy.

It may also help to explain why, at a time of growing economic hardship, Russia's president remains so utterly popular at home.

His world view is theirs too. Like the harsh cold of the coming Russian winter, confrontation with the West is inevitable and must be endured.