Quote Originally Posted by outlaw
AP---out of all the above and it would take a book to respond---here is your ten word key statement and yet you failed to even answer it yourself.
Oh - the irony.

I would argue currently it is a striving near peer as I believe as you do not that while Russia is a military power and a political power---the political power is not from their military strength but rather through their nuclear weapons.
Nuclear weapons are a military asset; ergo, it's a component of military power.

Russia has no economic power to enforce/project their military and nuclear political power.
You need to clarify. Are you saying that Russia does not have economic power to project or that it does not have the economic capacity to support military power projection?

Currently they can only threaten their previous SU empire border countries and that is about it and yet when those countries were offered an alternative their ran in the direction of the EU/NATO not in the direction of Russia--wonder why?
How is the 'why' relevant to Russia's capabilities?

Some argue that the US is in demise--but can it still project political, military and economic power anywhere in the world---yes it can.
Relative decline. That's an important distinction.

I would argue that while chasing UBL and jihadi's around the world they have via their counter threat finance group discovered in fact a fourth power---the power to monitor the flows of USDs and if needed apply legal power against those flows just as they are now applying it against Russian state owned businesses and banks. AP that is the ultimate power and they have learned very well how to use it--ask the Iranians, ask the European banks and the fines they are paying
In other words - sanctions. That's not new. And the historical record of the effectiveness of sanctions is mixed.

Russia is simply a developing country with two raw resources that is being used to finance a corrupt government, a corrupt ruling elite, and the oligarchs that have failed in providing an increased standard of living for the entire Russia population equal to the earnings coming from those resources since 1994.
If that's the case, what's with the hysteria about the threat Russia poses to the United States? Russia cannot simultaneously be a third-rate country and an existential threat to U.S. interests. Either Russia is a threat or it is not - if it is a threat, it's on the basis of its capabilities. If it's not a threat, why not just ignore it?