Why nuclear war from Russia is a diminishing threat.

PERSEVERANCE WILL DECIDE THE CONCLUSION OF THIS NEW COLD/HOT WAR 

PERSEVERANCE BY THE WEST OUTLASTED THE SOVIET UNION

The cold war supposedly lasted from 1945  to 1991, 46 years. This reignited cold war will most likely be over in a just few years or less. The question is, which side now has the ability to persevere for the long haul? Can the West outlast the Russian federation and their allies? Can the Russian federation and its allies survive without access to the economic system of the West? Can the West survive the consequences of its own sanctions? At present, both sides believe they can prevail.

The fear has been that an escalation of the Ukraine war could easily lead to the desperation of the Russian federation culminating in a nuclear WW3.  No need to risk nuclear war if you see the opposition self destructing on many fronts. Can the west persist in this economic war that seems to threaten itself as much as its enemies? We will likely get a glimpse of this reality in the next 6 months.

While the destabilization of Russia as a result of sanctions was expected to show results in a few months, it has now been 5 months and the Russian economy has been tested and has actually declined minimally. It does appear that the Russians will be able to live with the present sanctions for quite some time.

The west is trudging along, but most of Europe is still dependent on Russian energy, with little hope of finding a suitable replacement. The domestic situation in the West is another matter, how long will the populace persevere with an ever increasing inconvenience of this economic standoff. 

The Russians have an abundance of food and energy and can likely replace most of the materials they obtained from the west from China, India and other southern countries. In fact the West is also suffering from the loss of sanctioned materials from Russia, not to mention the inability to obtain the supplies it has come to be dependent on from China.

WW2 and the cold war was a far different world than what we have today. The United States was the arsenal of democracy, was self sufficient and could out produce the rest of the world combined. Today we are much more a service economy that depends on foreign produced products not only for consumer goods, but for much of the basic ingredients needed for our manufacturing and defense. 

The WW2 generation was dedicated to persevere and the cold war did not really have much effect on the quality of life. Life went on with little inconvenience to the average citizen. Today, a prolonged period of shortages and high prices will most likely lead to questioning of whether it is all worth it. The question remains who has the most perseverance and who will blink first.