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Originally Posted by myboynoah
Really? Feels more like the 1950s (Soviet [now Russian] expansionism, Western [and now parts of Eastern] Europe joining to counter the threat, the specter of nuclear conflict, etc.).
Your comments speak to the importance of NATO in maintaining peace in Europe, as well as continued U.S. commitment to the region.
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Not in all ways, but you don't have the polarity of literally every nation in the world aligned with one or the other. Nor does the US have the ability currently to stop an aggressive Russia. I was referring to the idea that there are many world powers right now. It is not a two pole cold war, and it really isn't the hegemony we enjoyed in the 1990. There are many powers at the moment.
In other ways a belligerent expansionist Russia is like a late 1930s Germany. Very well armed with neighbors who don't really believe it has aspirations beyond just a little real estate. With the US spread so thin, I think that Russia could once again, in very short order, take control of everything east of the Rhine, and perhaps beyond. We have troops stationed there, but not in nearly sufficient numbers. My guess is that we would fall back, perhaps to France, in the face of an advancing Russian Army, and hope that we could hold them while we mobilized the rest.
I have no reason to doubt that a mobilized and fully deployed US military, which remains the most advanced in the world by some distance, could defeat any army in the world. I am particularly given to believe that air superiority would be established in fairly short order.
The nuclear angle is interesting in that is some ways it may be that we are "post nuclear", that is, no one really thinks that anyone is going to use them (except maybe Israel).
Again, I doubt very very much that any of this comes to pass, but much stranger and unlikely events have unfolded in the past. These developments are worth keeping an eye on.