Julianus
Putin’s nuclear powered, nuclear tipped, nuclear flavored wet dream? That’s so pedestrian. We’re living in the future, not a 1950s pulp novel. And again… they can’t even maintain their conventional forces. It’s highly dubious they’ll be able to support more than the demo, or even that, as was the case with the Buran.
They aren’t a superpower. This would imply the ability to project power across the planet. And right now, Russia is struggling at the ends of it’s own rail lines. And how many aircraft carriers do they have? Zero.
They are nuclear armed, but I doubt if they can maintain 1% of their arsenal given the corruption and neglect evident in the rest of their military. They do love blowing money researching old-fashioned “super weapons,” ala Hilter’s last days. But they can’t afford more than the demo model. Or the clean up when they splash isotopes all over their own lands when one blows up in testing. Meanwhile, America, the real superpower, is on to 21st century tech.
