Agreed. But once the Soviet Union collapsed, new alliances could have been formed but for the fact the Russians hated/still hate us as much as back in the Soviet days.
It was Kosovo that ruined the chance to bring Russia into the fold. Stupid, stupid move.
Yeah Russia seems to be heading to a bad place.
Evil seems to be a part of the fabric of the national Russian character, off the top of my head, historically they always seem to prefer the darkness to good.
When the evil Empire was brought down, I guess most of us suspected that it wouldn’t change Russia in any fundamental way, but at least it has/is given us a breather for a couple of generations before we have to face the apocalypse again.