Re:America’s Fragile Constitution
by dragonwriter on Thursday September 17, 2015 @11:25AM
(#10233854)
> it was in fact weaker in every objective respect than Russia has been the last ten years.
No, it wasn't. Most critically, in the capacity for projecting soft and hard power beyond its immediate region -- they key factor distinguishing a superpower from a regional power -- the USSR was far beyond where Russia is now. It may be that Russia is a more effectively focused regional power than the USSR was (though, it must be noted, the areas where it exerts substantial pressure largely are places where the USSR exerted direct rule, and the USSR exerted substantial regional influence far beyond those areas, so even that is dubious.)
No, it wasn't. Most critically, in the capacity for projecting soft and hard power beyond its immediate region -- they key factor distinguishing a superpower from a regional power -- the USSR was far beyond where Russia is now. It may be that Russia is a more effectively focused regional power than the USSR was (though, it must be noted, the areas where it exerts substantial pressure largely are places where the USSR exerted direct rule, and the USSR exerted substantial regional influence far beyond those areas, so even that is dubious.)