Betteridge’s Law applies. I think any sensible person would have to answer “no”, unless one wants to promote pre-1990 Vietnam to the same level as Britain (or even Portugal) or pre-1990 Poland to the same level as Spain (in fact, Poland at the time had an economy similar in size to that of Belgium). Especially considering that China, though it did have an economic size similar to, say, France, did not have anywhere close to the industrial, technical, and export capabilities of France, it seems the USSR was the
I would disagree. Being a superpower is much more about military strength than economic strength. Though Russia today has a better economy than the USSR, it sorely lacks the strategic depth that the Warsaw Pact countries gave it. You also have to consider the fact that the USSR had the same number if not more nuclear weapons than America and vastly more than China or France. It did decline relative the US in strength over the course of the Cold War however. In the 1950s, it would have been within the realm of possibility for the USSR/Russia to forcibly drive NATO from the continent, but not in the 1980s and probably not now either. It also doesn't matter whether Russia is choosing to have less influence in the third world than the USSR did or they are simply unable to: the fact is they have less.
I would disagree. Being a superpower is much more about military strength than economic strength. Though Russia today has a better economy than the USSR, it sorely lacks the strategic depth that the Warsaw Pact countries gave it. You also have to consider the fact that the USSR had the same number if not more nuclear weapons than America and vastly more than China or France. It did decline relative the US in strength over the course of the Cold War however. In the 1950s, it would have been within the realm of possibility for the USSR/Russia to forcibly drive NATO from the continent, but not in the 1980s and probably not now either. It also doesn't matter whether Russia is choosing to have less influence in the third world than the USSR did or they are simply unable to: the fact is they have less.