Does it belong in 21th century?
Russia is a major power since 1380s and a superpower since 1550s.
Do you know any nation outlived it in this status for that long? I guess not. But you probably know plenty of these looking down on Russia and stating it is a third rate declining power and nothing to care about and this thinking dates back to 800 years ago. How many of these were destroyed by the Russians not only as superpowers but as nations too? It wasn’t for nothing. Did Swedish or Polish empires envisioned their omnipotent states would be destroyed by the Russians in counterattacks to their invasions.
What Napoleon and Hitler thought? Did Napoleon envision Russian troops captured Paris? Did Hitler believe the Germans will learn Russian and not vice versa?
And if you’d say Genghis Khan his nations would harrass China and Japan on Russia’s order and would be below an autonomous state within Russia she wouldn’t ever believe it.
Agreed.
But the Russians want territory, as they have for hundreds of years.
The USA does not want territory, it just wants security, and exercises the means to obtain it.
Let the Russians have their bed of quicksand and quagmire.Now they must keep the peace, or wage a war of genocide. We be pumping oil , cha-ching! And adding to our economy that which was taken by the community organizer president of dirty name, adding much needed millions to the Kurdish economy.And a lot of that money will be spent buying arms and ordnance from the good old US of A.
Let Europe worry about the Russian penchant for territory.Sooner or later they will be forced to ante up.