You can call me Alex. Ann, my wife, doesn’t post here.
I agree that we are at our, possibly, weakest point militarily, but since neither side wants a shooting war, it is beside the point. I think Putin miscalculated the strength of the Western institutions that go by precedents, laws, treaties, and won’t let him get away with military aggression. He will get a Second Cold War out of this. That, I think did not enter his plans.
I think the West is weak militarily, economically, and in almost every way because it is decadent. Western Civilization has lost confidence in itself, and millions think it has nothing to offer. This results from all the wars, the racism, the problems that Western Civilization has not, so far, been able to solve. Western European nations, for example, cannot even muster the energy or the will to survive.
I don't know whether Putin understands this or not, but he doesn't care.
He knows the West is weak.
He calculates that he can bully Western leaders.
And he's right.
Putin's not concerned about "Global Warming" or endangered species. Neither are the Chi-coms.