I staked out a stronger position than I actually hold, a hopefully forgivable mistake in response to Zenaan's black-and-white "Russia good, US evil" propagandizing. Thanks for the thoughtful response.
OK, I can understand that. Yes, there is a lot of ideological stuff like that here, it seems. I look at geopolitics from a merely strategic point of view, believing that the military planners and people in power tend to look at it in those terms rather than believing the bullshit that they tell the public. How could they? Many of them, no doubt, have contact with the media and have directed them what to say, in some way or another. I would add, however, that from what I can tell, Putin is out-classing the West at nearly every turn. If there are any politicians in the U.S. that have a chance of out-thinking the man, I haven't heard of them.