American Pride:
Nope, Russia is a third rate economy. You don't just judge by the total product, you judge by the total product divided by the number of people. So Canada and Italy rate and Russia don't. Besides it is mostly an extractive economy. Not good. Canada by the way has 35 million people and its GDP is about 1.821. Russia has 143 million and its GDP is about 2.029. That doesn't compare too well.
Their military record isn't anything to brag about. If people are up in arms about that they aren't judging it correctly. I think they are up in arms because they invade other countries. They get by so mostly on bluff. You don't have to actually be strong if nobody requires a demo.
I will not explain to you why a demographic problem is important when judging a country's immediate military strength and future potential. You should know.
Sorry I was unclear when I said they do well against countries that are little and won't fight. I should have said they do well against countries that are little OR won't fight. The "or" is important. The big question now is if things get worse, will Ukraine fight? If they do, the Russian military will be better tested but their economy won't hold, in my opinion.
If Europe wants to hand the keys to Vlad, they won't do anything as to sanctions. If they don't they will. And the reason they would is because their economies are much much stronger than Russia's and the Russians would cry uncle long before the Euros. It would take some determination though. We'll see if they have it.
Well if you think we can't handle Russia by various means when we have double the population, eight times the GDP, lots and lots of reasonably good allies, don't have the demographic problem they have and are not plagued by an insurgency that won't go away-then I guess there is no alternative but give Vlad what he wants and hope he won't want more.
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