The Soviet Union was militarily stronger, but then so were we. Economically the USSR was a communist basket case that ultimately couldn’t compete with us. Putin’s crony capitalist Russia is economically much stronger than the USSR, while we are now up to our eyeballs in debt, much of it to China. And back then China was strategically aligned with us against the USSR. Now they are Putin’s allies.
Russia isn’t even as strong as the U.S., and there are 27 other NATO nations besides us, and 5 of those are in the top 8 of the world’s strongest militarys.
I don’t know where this thinking is coming from that now that we defeated the massive Soviet military empire, and absorbed their largest and strongest, and most advanced components into our own military and geographical alliance, that now the West must surrender to the smaller and weaker Russia.
Absolutely correct.