Putin Metaphorically gives the U.S. the finger

WASHINGTON — Russian aircraft carried out a bombing attack against Syrian opposition fighters on Wednesday, including at least one group trained by the C.I.A., eliciting angry protests from American officials and plunging the complex sectarian war there into dangerous new territory.
end partial quote from:

Russians Strike Targets in Syria, but Not ISIS Areas

This is now different than any other Cold War scenario. Putin likes "Brinkmanship" and "Macho" in a way that wouldn't have been allowed by the Soviet Union. 

So, I would have to say that Putin is far more dangerous than any previous Soviet Leader except maybe Stalin.

We now have a teenage macho person called Putin playing with nuclear brinkmanship in an extremely dangerous way for the whole world.

He is doing this to put the U.S. in the role of "not having any balls" and "being a paper tiger". 

However, many U.S. generals have testosterone poisoning just like during the Cold War. So, literally Putin is playing with fire. 

Hopefully, the fire doesn't nuke the world out of existence in the next few years.