"Russia can still disrupt the international order, threaten its neighbors and command attention through its nuclear arsenal. But the broader foundations of great-power status—economic strength, demographic vitality, conventional military capability and dependable alliances—have eroded. Russia is no longer a great power.
This is despite President Trump's attempts to make Russia great again and his friends and family richer through business dealings in that part of the world.
Russia lost global superpower status after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 triggering fragmentation of the Warsaw Pact countries and the breakaway of two Russian constituent republics, Belarus and Ukraine.
International relations specialists weigh 11 specific elements of national power to compare nations — and Russia is deficient in most. The more quantifiable elements are economic strength, population dynamics, military capability and diplomatic standing, particularly the number and quality of dependable allies.
Russia's decline in conventional forces might suggest to some that Russia has a lower threshold for the use of nuclear weapons. But to what end? Nuclear weapons really only have limited function—to deter other states from using weapons of mass destruction against Russia or trying to seize Russian territory. Either scenario is unlikely…"
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Armand
finds bridges to match the river sets.
