The most disconcerting thing about all of this

[PJMcK]

3. Our politicians

I agree with you completely that our elected officials' corruption has already weakened our faith and respect for them. I was suggesting that the Russians have seized on that circumstance as one of the ways to drive wedges into our society. The kind of political polarity that has developed in the US and other nations (as you point out) causes those societies to become somewhat dysfunctional.

Today, I don't think that any intelligent leader would think of world domination. As World War II demonstrated, the world's too big to manage. But if the western nations and their alliances are weakened, it would allow all kinds of mischief by Putin.

It's been observed numerous times that the next world war might not be fought on the battlefield but in cyberspace. It feels like the Russians have already begun. Has the US?