I really miss John McCain. In 2014, shortly after its illegal annexation of Crimea, the late Senator from Arizona took to the Senate floor and derisively described Russia as “a gas station masquerading as a country.” His point was that despite its vast landmass and wide variety of natural resources, Russia had not bothered to diversify its economy, leaving it overly reliant on revenues from oil exports. Senator McCain’s broader argument was that given the size and configuration of its economy, Russia could not factually be considered a major power.

That empirical fact seems to be lost on many people. Vladimir Putin and the entire Russian political establishment also appear to be unaware of what century we are in. This complete misperception of Russia’s position on the world stage today is what has caused the current geopolitical crisis in Europe.

Apart from his insistence that Ukraine should never be allowed to join either NATO or the EU, Putin has had another longstanding diktat that says Ukraine has to demilitarize. In Putin’s mind, Ukraine is not a country. He thinks it shouldn’t exist, and that is why he has repeatedly tried to swallow it. The fact that Ukraine’s borders are not visible to him doesn’t mean the rest of us have the same eyesight problems he has. Globally, nearly everyone else is aware that Ukraine has had national borders since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

The universally recognized principle of national sovereignty means that countries have the freedom to decide what is best for them within their borders. Who is Vladimir Putin to tell the citizens of another country whether they should have a military or not? Has he seen what he has in his own closet? Russia is one of the most heavily armed countries on the planet. How would he respond if a neighboring country were to issue demands for Russia to disarm because its large cache of weapons poses an existential threat to the proximate region?

Financially and in terms of manpower, Russia doesn’t come close to the combined power of the EU and the U.K. The EU had a combined GDP of $18.7 trillion in 2024. The U.K.’s was $3.6 trillion. In contrast, Russia’s GDP last year was only $2.2 trillion, less than 10 percent of the $22.3 trillion total of the EU and U.K. The current population of the EU is 450 million, while that of the U.K. is 69.5 million, a total of approximately 520 million. At 144 million, the population of Russia is also far smaller.

Data published in a recent Wall Street Journal article suggest that Russia would be no match for Europe in a conventional war. Russia has an estimated 1.34 million active military personnel, while Europe has 1.97 million. Europe’s 32,700 armored fighting vehicles would overwhelm Russia’s 10,700. With 2,100 combat planes, Europe also has nearly twice as much air power as Russia’s 1,100 would provide. The article’s author goes on to say that the equipment alone doesn’t even tell the whole story. He argues that Europe’s military operational capabilities are far superior to those of Russia, citing evidence from Russia’s mighty struggle in the last three years against the small Ukrainian army with far fewer weapons and resources.

The entire European continent is extremely fearful of Russia only because of its vast nuclear arsenal. During that infamous Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy three weeks ago, President Trump wagged his finger at his besieged guest and said the following: “You are gambling with the lives of millions of people! You are gambling with World War III!” Those were enormously profound and revealing words. Essentially, the otherwise inconsequential Russia is holding everyone hostage, including the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth, simply because it has a large cache of nuclear weapons.

In his Wall Street Journal article last week, Bertrand Benoit mentioned incoming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s recent statement regarding the need for Germany to start serious discussions with Britain and France about the possibility of those two nuclear-armed European countries using their nuclear deterrents to cover the entire continent. French President Emmanuel Macron has already expressed openness to that idea. Mr. Merz sees the urgency. President Trump has recently said that he might not abide by Article 5 of the NATO Treaty in the event of a Russian attack on Europe. That has prompted the new chancellor to hint at the possibility of a future nuclear-armed Germany.

A conservative German lawmaker was quoted in the article as saying that “Russia has threatened us with nuclear strikes,” and that “We Europeans have to take this nuclear threat seriously and face it with a nuclear deterrent.” Benoit also mentions a German political scientist who he says has already been pushing German leaders for months to develop a nuclear arsenal. Benoit says however that the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which Germany is a signatory to, “bans it from developing nuclear weapons and prevents other signatories from helping it do so.”

I find it quite interesting that Benoit thinks the Germans should have any qualms about violating any pacts at this point. He perhaps still has in mind the rules-based world order that prevailed until recently. Russia, the country that the Germans are seeking to protect themselves from, doesn’t respect treaties. He should ask the Ukrainians. Today’s world is a rudderless one, with President Trump consistently championing “America First.” That translates to every man for himself. If Germany can no longer rely on Article 5 for protection against the Russian menace, what authority figure in this world is going to stop it from acquiring nuclear weapons if it decides that it is the best path toward achieving national security?

Those fears in Europe that the rapid unraveling of the Western alliance will leave the continent vulnerable have prompted German leaders to start a national debate about committing €1 trillion ($1.1 trillion) in new funds for infrastructure and defense spending. A few influential voices have already said that Germany will be better off spending that money to acquire nuclear weapons. Those observers argue that given what Putin has demonstrated, no quantity of conventional weapons will ever again be sufficient for national defense, especially when there is such a belligerent nuclear-armed country nearby.

Asian countries must be watching what is happening in Ukraine and the wider Europe closely. Who would blame Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and others if they decided to join the nuclear arms race? The neighborhood nuclear power, China, has been making its own threatening noises for a few years now. If the Europeans cannot trust America to come to their aid, those vulnerable Asian countries will conclude that their only path forward is to hop on the nuclear train.

Those who have indulged Putin’s fantasies about Russia being a major power have emboldened him and allowed him to hold the entire world hostage. There was indeed a time when Russia was an empire and a major power. That is also true of the U.K. And, like Russia, the U.K. has nuclear missiles today. But we don’t see contemporary British prime ministers brandishing those weapons and constantly threatening others while thumping their chests and demanding respect and a seat at the big table. I wish Senator McCain were alive today to remind the wannabe emperor in the Kremlin that he is past his prime and should act accordingly.