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Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, vowed to restore Russia's greatness by creating an "energy empire", according to TIME. His first steps included seizing privately held corporations for the government to control and forcing (or blackmailing) people into backing his preferred political candidates. But this month, he took his ambitions one step further. In a turn of events more suited to a bad science fiction novel, Putin sent submarines to the ocean floor of the North Pole and placed a Russian flag there. Borrowing his methods from the conquistadores who claimed the Americas for Spain, Russia claimed a portion of the North Pole as its own.

Connected to the North Pole by no more than a small underwater ridge, the former global super power has just as tenuously laid claims on some 10 billion tons of oil.

Most of the Western world chuckled at their claim to the land.

But that is not all that Russia has been up to. Putin is also deeply concerned with the decreasing Russian population. In response, his Kremlin organized a youth movement in order to encourage procreation. Like a summer camp here in the United States, young people from across Russia gathered for a week of anti-democracy rhetoric, physical fitness...and, well, unprotected sex in the name of the motherland.

Most of the Western world was probably laughing out loud at this point.

However, it wasn't too long ago when the Western world found the actions of Reagan's "Evil Empire" quite less hilarious. Bringing back that Soviet-era respect seems to be Putin's major goal.

So, when will Russia's unpredictable actions stop being a laughing matter?