From a bare-chested prime minister in Siberia to Russian subs patrolling the U.S. East Coast, Russia has one thing on its mind - reclaiming the world power status it lost when the Berlin wall crumbled.
Modern history has not boded well for a Russian people forced to temper their prideful nature in light of international failings and domestic realities.
The communism of Lenin and Stalin delivered oppression and prosecution in lieu of the Marxist utopia promised and even after Ronald Reagan forced Soviet Moscow to raise the white flag, hardships endured. Capitalism was replaced with corruption, Russian politics was defined by nepotism and Russian mobsters filled the shoes of the KGB.
Boris Yeltsin, a man defined by his defiance, proved unable to place Russia on a path free of temptation.
And as Russia struggled in its transition from communism, Western allies, rather than let fresh wounds heal, ran for the salt shaker as NATO membership was expanded to Russia's front porch.
Frustrated and fed up, the stage was set for a Russian revival to be ushered in by former KGB agent turned President, Vladimir Putin.
Russian nationalism has always been an untamed force capable of changing international dynamics and now Prime Minister Putin is on track to rebranding the Russian people. Viewed as a country that is aging and decaying, Mr. Putin is attempting to rekindle the machismo that once defined the nation.
While on holiday, Russian officials released pictures of a bare-chested Putin on horseback in Siberia. The fifty-six year old leader made it a point to showcase his arm muscles and pecs as he traversed a section of Russia known for its rugged nature.
It is a picture that continues a trend started in Mr. Putin's presidency in which the former KGB agent is attempting to erase the connotations of drunken buffoonery the world associated with Russia via the actions of Mr. Yeltsin.
Such a masculine imagery is not foreign to Russian politics, as Mr. Putin is modeling his actions after that of Leonid Brezhnev who was fond of hunting bears and wild boars. Moreover, Mr. Putin has a habit of flaunting his alpha male mentality.
As the prime minister, he dressed in black, rode with a group of Hell's Angels and performed a "wheelie" at the same time U.S. President Barack Obama was in Moscow.
But as Mr. Putin flaunts his outdoor skills and motorcycle prowess, his nation, once broken down militarily, is started to take military actions that are akin to a bare-chested alpha-male.
The detection of the Russian subs, believed to be nuclear powered attack submarines, of the U.S. East Coast raised eyebrows in the Washington because it is the first time in 15 years Moscow has been caught with having subs so close to the U.S. coast. Such concern, according to Russian officials, is unfounded.
"I don't know if it's news to anyone," Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Russia's deputy chief of general staff, told a news conference. "The navy should not stay idle at its moorings."
Mr. Nogovitsyn downplayed the subs and argued Russian subs in international waters off the U.S. East Coast is no different than detecting U.S. subs performing the same maneuvers off Russia's coast.
"We can also talk about them (U.S. submarines), where they occur from time to time. So this (Russian patrols) is a normal process, and those making such statements understand this pretty well," Mr. Nogovitsyn said. The Russian official, however, failed to provide specific instances where the U.S. performed similar operations off the Russian coast.
The Russian official stressed his nation had a right to perform such basic military maneuvers and shrugged off claims Russia is adopting a more aggressive global stance.
"It's a normal thing," Nogovitsyn said.
But how normal are such operations during peace time and are the maneuvers a signal Moscow decided to pass on Mr. Obama's offer to reset relations between the two nations?
In the aftermath of the Cold War, Russia was beset with economic hardships and its ability to maintain a military was dramatically reduced. This, however, ended with Mr. Putin's presidency thanks to tapping the nation's oil resources.
Since then, Russia has resumed Cold War style flights of nuclear-capable bombers across the Atlantic, sent warships into the Caribbean and dispatched its Navy to the Mediterranean to counter pirate activity. This has caused some to questions Russia's willingness to cooperate with the West.
"In the wake of President Obama's visit to Moscow and Vice President Biden's prediction that Russia's weakness will produce conciliatory behavior, the submarines demonstrate that the Kremlin has no intention of changing its aggressive stance toward the U.S.," David Satter, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, said in a positing on the National Review Online.
And just as Washington adjusts to Russian subs lingering on the East Coast, it was announced Thursday Russia would be drilling for oil in the Caribbean.
"Every time I travel through the region, I come to Cuba to advance our joint economic-commercial projects, and I take every opportunity to communicate with my colleagues," Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin.
Mr. Sechin struck a deal with Havana to let Russia engage in exploration in Cuba's economic zone. Such actions have led to the conclusion Moscow may be trying to flex muscle at a time when the U.S. is bogged down with two wars in the Middle East, trying to prevent a nuclear Iran and striving to contain a rambunctious North Korea.
But while some say Russia is reigniting its nationalism, some charge the country's new global posturing is fueled by the West's diplomacy with the independent nations that once were Soviet republics. Critics have also charged the policy of NATO expansion has made a possible Russian ally into an adversary.
Instead of isolating Russia, some have argued for a policy in which Washington and Moscow reach a cooperative agreement.
"Neither Georgia nor Ukraine is to be brought into NATO. The independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, won in the August war with Georgia, is not to be challenged. The U.S anti-missile missiles planned for Poland are not to be deployed," columnist Pat Buchanan wrote in outlining U.S. obligations in forming a new diplomacy with Russia.
"In turn, Russia will cancel any missile deployment in Kaliningrad, recommits to the terms of all conventional forces agreements in Europe and assist in the effort in Afghanistan. Russia rejoins the West, and the West stays off Russia's front porch."