Russia is weaker than you think

The collapse of the Assad regime in Syria should be a reminder of a general truth that often gets obscured in the blizzard of conflicting and contradictory news stories that absorb us day to day: The West’s adversaries are often weaker than we think.

Recall how for decades the United States overestimated the strength of the Soviet economy and armed forces, the surety with which it claimed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, and the frequent scares around Islamist militant groups such as al-Qaeda and more recently Hezbollah. Yet, over time what often becomes apparent is that these governments and groups are repressive, corrupt and dysfunctional — not attributes that help them thrive in the modern world.

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