From your comment it seems you're still living in 1972 or thereabouts when the highly militarized Soviet Union was indisputably the West's most formidable enemy. But today, China is, by far, more of a threat to the US both economically and militarily than Russia is. It's not even close.
Do you seriously think Russia's goal is to initiate an unprovoked nuclear attack against the US? Against Europe? Only if there was absolutely no other option to prevents its total destruction I think and maybe not even then because if it did it would cease to exist, making the point moot. The US might do the same thing in the same situation. . .
Do you seriously think that "Hitler V Putin" rubs his hands together in glee at the prospect of conquering Europe? That would be utterly delusional to think. Russia's now a classic, corrupt, shopworn and tattered Eastern European country inhabited by people badly damaged - economically and emotionally - by communism's 80 year long, soul-deadening legacy there. It has a half-assed military and half-assed gear, and like Ukraine, is utterly corrupt to the core, the corruption and plunder orchestrated and carried out by a relatively small group of oligarchs and organized crime groups and individuals, in both countries. Eff both places. I care not one whit for either of them though I sympathize with all Russians and Ukrainians who've lost loved ones in this mess.
Not one more penny of our tax dollars should be plowed into the war between those two crapholes. They've been going at it for 100 years, or more, and the crap between the two places ratcheted way up after Chernobyl exploded and began getting even stupider once our wonderful "intelligence" agencies" and NATO began pushing up against Russia/Ukraine's borders.
Let 'em have at it.They'll beat each other up once again as they've been doing for years. Maybe someday the whole show will be sorted out between them, maybe not. Not our war and involvement in it is certainly not in the best interest of the US taxpayer, but may well be in the interests of the usual small cast of "elite" scumbags in the West, that's for sure.
"Pipehitters" slang for SF operators who directly take care of bad guys.
Your claims are factually incorrect, and demonstrably so. Further, your opinion about Russia being "barely" a First World nation is a distraction / misdirection: The abysmal "quality of life" or laughable "standard of living" or "number of toilets per capita" in Russia are all irrelevant to any discussion about the military threat Russia poses.
Compared with today's Russia, the Soviet Union was even less on a par with the U.S. regarding consumer goods and such - but that is irrelevant.
The Soviet Union / Russia was NEVER a First World nation - neither by definition (it was, to be precise, a SECOND World nation - the term was actually created for that very purpose!), nor in fact. Russia is, as President Trump might say, a "sh*thole country." It has never been otherwise. IRRELEVANT to this discussion!
Russia possesses a total of 5,977 nuclear warheads as of 2022, the largest stockpile of nuclear warheads in the world; the second-largest stockpile is the United States' 5,428 warheads.
Assessing Red China's nuclear arsenal is more difficult still: They could be the world's 4th or even 3rd most-powerful nuclear force.
China is, by far, more of a threat to the US both economically and militarily than Russia is. It's not even close.
China is a greater economic threat, and it is definitely a greater military threat to Taiwan than is Russia to any client-state of the U.S., but China is less a threat to America, itself.
However, that, too, is IRRELEVANT to the discussion at hand. We are talking about Russia, and the possibility of there being other countries with a more-powerful military is IRRELEVANT to a discussion of the Russian threat.
(It may be useful to occasionally mention other countries, simply for the sake of comparison, and to get a better idea of the relative strength, since none of us here are actual military experts - but it is invalid (a logical fallacy) to downplay Russia's threat potential by emphasizing China's possible strengths.)
Do you seriously think that "Hitler V Putin" rubs his hands together in glee at the prospect of conquering Europe? That would be utterly delusional to think.
It is a waste of time to pretend that you can read Putin's thoughts, or guess his true motives. Rational thinkers focus instead on what might plausibly happen, based on established FACTS ON THE GROUND.
It is more than plausible, given Putin's bad track-record (Georgia, Crimea, the Invasion of 2022), that making concessions to Putin now - negotiating a peace favorable to Russia, for instance - would only encourage him (or one of his successors) to launch another "Special Military Operation" a few years down the line.
Even if Russia were to never start another war - if the West appeases Putin, other "bad actors" would take this as a sign of weakness and complacency on the part of the collective West and be likewise encouraged to misbehave.
In invading Crimea in 2014 - but even more so in invading the rest of Ukraine in 2022 - Putin has breached the established principle of the inviolability of international borders in Europe which has stood since the close of WWII.
He has willfully launched the bloodiest war in Europe since WWII, and must not be rewarded for it.
Putin must lose!
Regards,