We may not be going into WW3 with Russia over Syria after all.

[CapnAwesome]

Russia can turn every major city in the U.S. to glass in a matter of minutes. It doesn't really matter what their gdp is.

It does, however, matter what their desire to survive means. MAD is still in effect, "the End of the Cold War" notwithstanding.

Sure. But to say that Russia isn't a threat because of a struggling economy is nonsense. They didn't have a good economy during the cold war either, but people were certainly worried about it then. It's also a country with a huge population, right on the border of Europe. Also your average Russian is way tougher than your average American or European, who have been getting softer and softer with each generation.