Dread Lörd Kaolian wrote:
The Georgia invasion was one of the first tests of their renewed land force. It was also a hugely symbolic slap in the face to the Nato alliance, since Georgia was activly persuing membershiop.
Yeah, but so what?
Unless you happen to live in one of the ex-soviet state, I don't think you should worry about Russia. Putin is mostly playing to the domestic crowd. He is trying to restore Russia as a world player and super-power, and who can blame him? The real mistake we made was not to engage closer with them when the USSR broke apart. It was a golden opportunity, one that will probably not come again in our lifetime.
The main problems with Russia are internal. It is very authoritarian, centralised, and paranoid. But most of this is centered on Russians. I would not want to be a Russian dissident, for sure, but I don't think Russia holds any imperialistic/expansionist ambitions. Yes, it can cause trouble in some regional affairs (Georgia, Ukraine, etc...) but it always has and always will be active in its natural sphere of influence. Just like the US has a vested interest in what happens around its borders, so does Russia. I'm not saying what they do is justified, but they behave like most regional powers behave.
As a US citizen, Russia should really be a non-issue. In the fight against violent Islam, they are in the same boat as us. In dealing with China as a rising super-power, they are just as scared as we are. The Cold War is dead, Russia doesn't have any ideology to promote. As long as we take them seriously as a regional power, they will not cause much trouble. Their economy is more closely tied to ours than it has even been.
I can't think of any major challenge that is likely to arise in the next couple of decades where Russia would be on the "other side". They might not be the easiest of countries to deal with, but their fundamental national interests are pretty much aligned to ours these days.
China will be much more problematic.