At The Conversation Ronald Suny assesses the threat that Russia poses to the United States:
In reality, the most powerful country in history and on the globe at the moment, the United States, faces a considerably weaker adversary in Russia.
The Kremlin spends about 10 percent of what the United States spends on defense (US$600 billion). The United States spends more on defense than the next eight countries combined.
Putin slashed military spending a few months ago by 25.5 percent, just as Trump plans to increase American defense spending by more than $54 billion.
Russia’s economy pales in comparison to America, Europe, Japan and China. It has an economy roughly the size of Italy’s, but must provide for a larger population, territory and defense budget.
It’s true that a somewhat weaker power can annoy, pressure or even harm a stronger power. And while Russia has a huge nuclear arsenal and impressive cyber capabilities, it is seriously outmatched by the United States in terms of influence and power. Obama referred to Russia as “a regional power,†and Putin thinks of America as a “global hegemon.†There are important truths in both of their statements.
The primary threat that Russia poses is to that American global hegemony which the United States has repeatedly abused over the period of the last 25 years. If we stopped interfering in Russian elections and behaving aggressively towards Russia, perhaps Russia would stop interfering in ours. At the very least we’d have a less mealy-mouthed basis for complaints about bad Russian behavior.
That’s the awful thing about trying to complain from the moral high ground. To do it credibly you’ve got to behave morally which does limit your freedom of action.
