In the end all that has remained from this "decaying" corpse" is a strong oil economy and other raw materials and a strong army although not trained in the arts of combat since the Georgian War was more of a training with live ammunition, but in the end sticking to the Russian side of the road as Lenin said in every quantity is a quality.
Coming to the Western corner we can find something that looks like it's covered in fog. We see something that wants to be an alliance that seeks to protect its members and ensure peace around them. Yes this would be a good definition, but let's put it in practical terms what we see is an alliance in which the USA uses countries from Europe as relays to convey power in whatever part of Middle East or East they want, not that this would be bad but this alliance is in shatters, a bunch of new countries have entered this defensive organization with the prospect of safe heaven, and democratic development. So far it sound fair but is it will ever work or do we have to test it to see and if it will come to this will it work as promised. .
What I see in NATO is an alliance that forgot how to act and it is slowly coming back to action with the latest declarations of the Russian, the point is if it will come back soon enough to face this new threat. In the end it seems that we go back to where we left it in regards to the Cold War. In the end of the first part Russia would not admit that is taking any part in this conflict, while on the other side NATO in response to the Russians will not increase for now the defense measures, but we know it all very well how to Russians play so in response to their dirty play NATO has to play its card very well for it may trigger a preventive war. Coming back to the main idea, the constant push of the Russians seems to drive the Ukrainians into the arms of NATO while the Russians get more and more agitated, within the passing days.