Yes, it’s awfully hard to modernize the military when all the available revenue is going to be needed to pay debt and meet spending for routine social spending. I’m very curious now who is paying the pensioners in Crimea, for example. Granted, the Ukranian currency is now worth more than Putin’s funny money. But it seems unlikely that Ukraine will pay that bill. After all, they’re now enjoying the benefits of Putinism.
I do not like what Putin represents but I can’t help wishing we had an American statesman of his caliber. I worry what will happen if we push him (and Russia) too deeply into a corner. As John Ross wrote in his masterpiece, Unintended Consequences; “Stripping a motivated people of their dignity and rubbing their noses in it is a very bad idea.” We did that with both Germany and Japan and look what happened.