For the first time in three years, I can say there's a threat of a nuclear strike

1. Putin is playing the Cuban Missile Crisis 2.0, the biggest game of his life. He has always dreamed of redoing that crisis and testing the U.S., believing that Khrushchev missed a historic opportunity. Putin thinks that if Khrushchev hadn't backed down, the U.S. would have been broken.

2. He frames everything in relation to the U.S. All his actions and appeals are targeted at America.

3. He's narrowing his room for maneuver. By raising the stakes to the maximum, he's effectively demanding (or begging) that Trump call him first. This obsession with getting a call signifies, in his mind, that others fear him—and that, to him, is more important than any agreement. As a coward by nature, he takes satisfaction in his opponent's fear.