The "Big Shift" is already underway, which is why obstacles have to be removed and Putin's got to go.
Second, Putin has made himself a general nuisance vis-a-vis US strategic objectives in Syria, Iran and Ukraine. In Syria, Putin has thrown his support behind Assad who the US wants to topple in order to redraw the map of the Middle East and build gas pipelines from Qatar to Turkey to access the lucrative EU market.
Third, Putin has strengthened a number of coalitions and alliances -- the BRICS bank, the Eurasian Economic Union, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization -- all of which pose a challenge to US dominance in the region as well as a viable alternative to neoliberal financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank. Going back to Brzezinski's "chessboard" once again, we see that the US should not feel threatened by any one nation, but should be constantly on-the-lookout for "regional coalitions" which could derail its plans to rule the world. Here's Brzezinski again:
"...the three grand imperatives of imperial geostrategy are to prevent collusion and maintain security dependence among the vassals, to keep tributaries pliant and protected, and to keep the barbarians from coming together... (p.40)
"Henceforth, the United States may have to determine how to cope with regional coalitions that seek to push America out of Eurasia, thereby threatening America's status as a global power." (p.55) (Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And It's Geostrategic Imperatives, Key Quotes From Zbigniew Brzezinksi's Seminal Book)
As a founding member and primary backer of these organizations, (and initiator of giant energy deals with China, India and Turkey) Putin has become Washington's biggest headache and a logical target for regime change.
Finally, Putin is doing whatever he can to circumvent dollar-denominated business and financial transactions. The move away from the buck is a direct attack on the US's greatest source of power, the ability to control the de facto international currency and to require that other nation's stockpile dollars for their energy purchases which are then recycled into US financial assets, stocks bonds and US Treasuries. This petrodollar-recycling scam allows the US to run gigantic current account deficits without raising interest rates or reducing government spending. Putin's anti-dollar policies could diminish the greenback's role as reserve currency and put an end to a system that institutionalizes looting.
This is why Putin is Public Enemy Number 1. It's because he's blocking the US pivot to Asia, strengthening anti-Washington coalitions, sabotaging US foreign policy objectives in the Middle East, creating institutions that rival the IMF and World Bank, transacting massive energy deals with critical US allies, increasing membership in an integrated, single-market Eurasian Economic Union, and attacking the structural foundation upon which the entire US empire rests, the dollar.
Naturally, Washington's powerbrokers are worried about these developments, just as they are worried about the new world order which is gradually taking shape under Putin's guidance. But, so far, they haven't been able to do anything about it. The administration's regime change schemers and fantasists have shown time-and-again that they're no match for Bad Vlad who has beaten them at every turn.
Bravo, Putin.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).