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Unless you are looking narrowly at nuke counts, Russia is not a great power. It's economy is propped up by oil and gas, and that's in question going forward, it
by dkjaudyeqooe 3y ago
Unless you are looking narrowly at nuke counts, Russia is not a great power. It's economy is propped up by oil and gas, and that's in question going forward, it is inefficient and outside of primary products it doesn't produce much of anything anyone wants. Its military has been exposed as a paper tiger and even the nukes can't be guaranteed to work these days.
China has the economic and manufacturing clout and is building up its military, but outside of the 'Global South' and various needy countries it has little soft power.
The US has stumbled somewhat mostly due to the overreaction to 9/11 and Bush's disastrous presidency, followed by the overcorrection of the Obama and Biden presidencies. But it still has the biggest and most powerful military, and NATO has been shocked out of its long complacency.
What the US has going for it is the possibility of renewal and reinvention, that is its strength and its enduring power. The US will keep on innovating, hopefully also in the political realm, and will retain global leadership. That's assuming that the Trump led Republican nihilist suicide cult doesn't destroy it first.
- mensetmanusman 3y agoRussia can punch above its weight because it has more people willing to die for the country in physical battle. Might makes right in realpolitik, especially in a multipolar world.
- XorNot 3y agoThe idea that massed infantry accomplishes much of anything is presently on vivid display for the failure of thinking that it is in Ukraine.
- cpursley 3y agoOpposed to metaphysical battle?
- mensetmanusman 3y agoI guess if larping online is a metaphysical battle :)
- dkjaudyeqooe 3y agoI don't think literal cannon fodder scares anyone, and doesn't represent any definition of 'might'.
- rainworld 3y agoYou know who’s nukes demonstratedly aren’t guaranteed to work these days? That’s right, the US’s: https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/11/02/minuteman-iii-missile-destroyed-after-failed-test-launch-near-california-coast.html https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/11/02/minuteman-iii...
- cpursley 3y agoThe Russian economy has been diversifying away from oil and gas for a decade and is close to the US in terms of percentage of the economy. They produce about as much steel as the US with less than half the population, a wide variety of other vital raw inputs. They’re a massive food producer and also export complex things like nuclear reactors, rockets, fighter jets.