> That’s certainly something, but hardly seems worthy of being considered the second strongest military power. It's that conclusion I disagree with. Their rel

> That’s certainly something, but hardly seems worthy of being considered the second strongest military power. It's that conclusion I disagree with. Their relative ranking has nothing to do with their absolute capability. Russia being able to do what they've already done in the face of the opponents they have probably makes them 2nd or 3rd strongest military power in the world. I think few other countries could manage to do even that. Sure, maybe in an alternate universe a totally politically unrestrained US military could conquer a Ukraine (receiving a similar level of foreign material assistance) from halfway around the world, but that just means the gap between 1st and 2nd/3rd is large.