Everyone forgets what an advantage the West has in alliance, geography, education, and most importantly freedom. All we need to do is to be patient, and wait for our enemies to decline economically and by Western brain-drain of those who see through the propaganda (as in the Cold War). Even Afghanistan is more or less a success now that we can pay for the Taliban to educate women or manage ISIS without costing lives (and anyone still talking about dishonor forgets things like the senseless death of Pat Tillman). I believe Putin knows his best chance is to goad NATO into a kind of war that help him justify himself. Judging from WW II (before which we were tentative and weak-looking), I don't think the West should be discounted militarily either, yet a kind of firm restraint seems our greatest weapon.