There you go, Stephen … you can write a dystopian alternative future story based on it.

Play Metro 2033, Metro: Last Light and Metro: Exodus to get yourself in the right frame of mind for a story about a post communist Russia acting as liberator of the West ¹ … watch Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister and The Thick Of It … and you’ll be good to go.

—
¹ Think “a Russian Renate Richter naively swallowing Putin’s line about there being absolutely no ulterior motives at all for doing so.” ²

² After all, it’s not like the U.S. stood to gain from coming to Europe’s aid in WWII, is it?