I keep reading this comment copied and pasted over and over again, and it is part of the problem. First of let me explain that I do not sympathize with Putin's cause, he is a despot who does not represent any democratic value. Not that the politicians in Washington are saints, but I am a citizen od the West. Either way, I want global peace and denuclearization of the world. I also would like to tel polliticians and puppet masters to go f themselves and shove their geopolitical games up their arses, because we need to improve people's lives not only in the US and the West, but also around the world.

That being said, the geopolitical goal of the US after the fall of the USSR was to be the sole superpower in the world, which is fair, but to also let Russia rot to the core, denying it any seat at the table when they wanted to join the Western alliances, thinking that Russia will never be an adversary again. That is exactly why Putin is so popular in Russia, per my understanding.

And what is wrong with your comment itself in my opinion, apart from the geopolitical consequences we are seeing unfold? Well, for starters Russia is now an adversary because it has been rebuilding its military hardware for 15 years now. They have a smaller fleet in comparison with the USSR's, but it is renewed and as capable as any country in the world, including the US. Size of the fleet does not matter when you do not plan your geopolitics on projecting power and strength throughout the world. Plus, it is cost-effective to have a smaller better armed fleet that can go face to face with a carrier group.

Russia has 1 aircraft carrier and does not intend to build more. In the Russian military doctrine carriers are an easy expensive and important target. That is why they have developed state of art missiles capable of taking down a carrier and its compagnon group. They have also invested a lot in ensuring that MAD remains a fact by improving their nuclear long-range delivery systems to bypass air defenses, while at the same time reversing the technology for defense purposes. In other words, there is a reason NATO and allies are at the negotiating table with Russia instead of just applying hard power.

As for the GDP, establishing a comparison to a country or US state using USD is futile. Russia benefits from being a smaller economy in USD terms, as its goods are mainly sold in USD, which its currency being of lower fiat value. This means a massive pump into the Russian local economy, where prices and salaries are much lower than ours at the change, but are similar or slightly less in terms of rubles and power purchase parity (PPP) to a country like Germany. There is no clear one statistic to show how Russian citizens are not, by our standards, poor. The Russian economy is highly dependent on energy sales to maintain this, but it has also built enough reserves to last a few years under massive sanctions. Plus we know that without their hydrocarbures the world economy would suffer a big crisis.

How does their GDP translate into defense? Well here is the tricky part, because we use our own standards to calculate an army's budget and a country's military capacity.. but they are not applicable to Russia, at least not completely. The main difference comes not only from the salaries stated above, but also their procurement system. Russia has maintained/rebuilt a big part of the USSR's defense procurement style. The difference with us is that theirs is mostly (and somehow) public sector whereas ours is private. The companies that produce the Russian weapons are not only very self-sufficient (or at least a lot more than Raytheon), they have this weird mix of being private and public at the same time, with their biggest customer being the state, having their own executives, yet somehow their real unofficial CEO is Putin. This unique organization, combined with the monetary system that is affected by world markets and USD, yet also shielded by it thanks to hydrocarbures and other goods, to simplify it, makes Russia's weapons development, acquisition and maintenance much cheaper than it is for the US'.

Now, after all these words I just typed, I want to underline a reality: we are in peacetime. We might go into a Cold War (this is what we are attempting to avoid), but we are not fully there yet not are we at the doors of a military confrontation. How do I know that, by the fact that we are chilling writing some stupid shit on Reddit from the comfort of our houses (or office if yours is cozy). In wartime, the country's economy shift to fully be oriented towards the impending war. Military hardware production takes a priority, and recruiting starts at a massive scale. This takes about 2 to 3 years to do, so we know we have time, unless nuclear buttons are pushed, which ain't happening luckily despite how stupid our leaders and how despot Putin and Xi are. But, sooner or later, a re-writing of the current World Order will have to take place, whether we like it or not. We are just postponing the inevitable.