Amadinejad and Putin

Yes, Amadinejad and Putin are both men who are either hated or feared (and quite possibly insane) but, despite all of the human rights violations they've committed, I have a strange sort of respect for them. These are two men play by their own rules and won't let anyone boss them around. How can you not respect that?
Amadinejad is determined to continue his country's development of a nuclear enrichment program, whether for energy or military purposes. The US and Israel are determined to stop him. He knows his entire country could be destroyed and he himself could be killed. Israel vows to attack soon, and the Dutch had planned an attack, but stopped short upon recieving intel that suggested that the US was ready to attack. But still, under overwhelming odds, this guy just won't take no for an answer. Sure, I don't like the idea of Iran having nukes, and I know that, as the most powerful country in the world, we have the right and responsibility to stop them. But they also have the right to fight back.
Vladimir Putin also is a maverick. Surging forward on the momentum of his popularity he has invaded another country, attacking its infrastructure and is now beginning to absorb two breakaway regions into Russia. He has now formed deals to tighten Russia's grip on Central Asia's oil welth, much to the dismay of the west. The US and many other European countries have vowed that Russia will face consequences, such as being exiled from G-8 and being denied entry into NATO, as well as lessened trade with many other countries. Putin has calmly pointed out how each of these claims is either false, or just doesn't matter. On top of that, he has been making demands of his own, calling for the removal of NATO warships from the Caspian. He knows his strength and is using it. Sure he was wrong to use such force in Georgia, and his demands are somewhat unrealistic, but does no one remember the Mexican-American War? We did the same thing as Russia has done here with Georgia. And in my book, that means they can do it too. Yeah, it was over one hundred years ago, but who cares? Obviously, this IS still the way the world works. If no one's going to stand up to you, why not?
Yeah, these are undeniably "bad" men, but I respect them immensely. I wish we had men of their caliber on our side.