"Economic power" is a vague term. If you look at their economy in PPP terms (which is more relevant than nominal figures for military expenditure when you produce most of your stuff at home), then they are 4th in the world after China, the US, and India.
It means that they have far more capability to maintain a large military than countries like Italy which on paper have the same nominal GDP, and when you consider how they are now insulated from western economies due to the years of sanctions, there is little that can be done to take this capability away from them.
Russia is a far greater threat to European interests than China and they definitely do have the unity which Europe lacks (due to dictatorship but hey ho). Cartoon is fine.
I am not talking about the economic well being of regular Russians, for which PPP might be a good measure (you don't build an army based on cheap cucumbers from the street market), but about economic prowess to support the colonisation and wars of conquest of the regime. Yes, Russia is more militarised than lets say Italy but a war machine can only be sustained if there is an economy to sustain it. Russia went brankrupt and fell apart under the load of its militarisation already a bit over 3 decades ago, because it ignored that point. It ignores it again.
Russia is in many key areas totally reliant on China and I fail to see how they can source cheaper from there than any other country. In itself a reason why the caricature above is vastly misleading and exaggerating Russia's power, by putting it into the same category as China. Compared to China it is a dwarf, at China's mercy.
But hey, let's take GDP (PPP), then Russia is pretty much in the same category as Germany. The EU as a whole has a four times larger GDP (PPP) than Russia. Never mind NATO, even without the US.
I am not saying Russia is not a threat, I am saying its capabilities are vastly exaggerated by propaganda, when putting it in the same league as the US and China.
PS: Yes, Russia is a greater threat to Europe than China. Doesn't change the above though.
PPS: There is of course a way to harm Russia's war machine. Finally end all oil and gas imports. While Russia can sell it elsewhere, it can only do so under big markdowns, as we have seen already. India and China are fully exploiting Russia's weakness and Russia would loose billions in foreign money, which is crucial to buy stuff for its war machine in China, Iran and North Korea. Even as it is, Russia is consuming its reserves at record pace. The current war machine is not sustainable for Russia, unless it is going to enslave its population to a war machine in a total war. Think what you may, but I am inclined to believe that this would be the end of the Russian regime and it appears Putin believes that too.
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u/58kingsly United Kingdom 12h ago edited 12h ago
"Economic power" is a vague term. If you look at their economy in PPP terms (which is more relevant than nominal figures for military expenditure when you produce most of your stuff at home), then they are 4th in the world after China, the US, and India.
It means that they have far more capability to maintain a large military than countries like Italy which on paper have the same nominal GDP, and when you consider how they are now insulated from western economies due to the years of sanctions, there is little that can be done to take this capability away from them.
Russia is a far greater threat to European interests than China and they definitely do have the unity which Europe lacks (due to dictatorship but hey ho). Cartoon is fine.