I am not so certain that Putin is being quiet because of impotence. While I don't know precisely what it means I can sense that there are pieces in play that we're not aware of. Not that Putin is omnipotent (I laugh out loud at his various macho stunts) but there is something swirling around the whole recent situation -- Ukraine, Syria, etc. that is not clear. Something is at work beyond the obvious grab for influence and control and/or destabilization of rivals. It might even be several somethings but there's more going on that media in general are not covering.