I only compared Russia to Canada in terms of GDP and only for the purpose of showing the weakness and inefficiency of the Russian economy.    You are the one who brought up military comparisons  , another area in which the US far outstrips and outclasses Russia.  May I also remind you that the USSR is history and it makes no difference if Putin previously worked for the communist state.  So did everybody in the former soviet union.     As for proxy wars, all the places you mentioned are failed states not worth fighting about and I dispute your claim that the US and Russia are engaging in proxy conflict in many of these areas.   Both are in fact cooperating in Syria .  In short,  Russia is no longer a world wide power that is threatening to extend communism to every spot on the globe.   They are a regional power that doesn't have the ability or even the ideology to challenge the US .