I think your right about a lot of things, except perhaps your very first point. Truth be told, the situation with Russia was simply on hold for a while, it actually resumed again quite a while ago. While it's mentioned in the mainstream media, it rarely gets the kind of focus that other issues do. People tend to have to be reminded that the Russians have been caught doing things like trying to assasinate world leaders to install ones friendly to them. There was a big deal about that years ago in Ukraine, and it was very much an East Vs. West conflict because they wanted their guy with pro-eastern sentiments, and we were in with the more popular (at the time) cantidate who had strong pro-western sentiments. They decided to poison the guy (slowly) and were caught, but only after most of the damage was done. It was "cold war" type manuvering at it's finest, execept for the media finding out about it (which was arguably a strategic move from our perspective). Since then Russia has been back in the form of their old USSR days, we had the invasion of Georgia, threats made against Poland for hosting a US missle interception base, and of course they decided to play "kick the can" with the EU for a while by cutting off their gas to make it clear to the EU that it was more or less under Russia's thumb.
I suppose to a peacenik left winger who was convinced that the USSR collapsed and the society actually begame progressive and stayed that way, it seems kind of "nutty" that things like this could be going on, after all the media isn't paying more attention to them (and it couldn't possibly have a political stake in deciding on what to focus on). In fact as "nutty" as the idea of Russia being ready to revert to it's old ways at "the touch of a button" goes, you might notice a lot of people predicted that, and that we shouldn't have been so lax when they collapsed, and instead stepped in to administer some "Hell's Angels First Aid". Russia maintained a huge mass of military hardware, including crazy numbers of tanks and submarines, not to mention a pretty massive nuclear arsenal. One of the things is that where Russia might not have more advanced technology, some of the things they did like virtually break their country by building so much stuff out of Titanium means that they can't be easily ignored. Russia's Subs still apparently have a depth tolerance greater than those of the US and most allied nations, and while not as stealthy that can represent a huge advantage in certain kinds of engagements.
The point is that when you look at things like "Modern Warfare", it's really not all that far off kilter. Russia went through a brief period where it looked like it might reform, and we gave them that chance, but there was always cause for concern. Since then they have been up to their old tricks, and while not as powerful overall as they were before (for a lot of reasons) they still represent a substantial military power. While Russia at this moment (though it could change) would be no match for the USA in a direct all or nothing throw down, it's still stronger than most world powers in a strict military sense. If the US wasn't behind the EU, Russia could literally overrun the place if it chose to. Not only is the EU dependant on it for fuel, but the EU has such a limited stockpile of WMD (something it acts proud of) that it's unlikely to be able to stop Russia with them due to it's sheer size if nothing else. If Russia decided to start lobbing ordinance into Europe and then rush their tanks in, it would be over if they were alone. Of course this COULD change if the EU puts more effort into military matters. Also the US is on their side, and that's why things like the missle base in Poland was such a big deal, it keeps them penned in because bases like that greatly limit the abillity of Russia to fire into, over over the EU with missles and such.
All of this has been analyzed in various places for years, while it's fantasy, Russia is one of those bad guys you can use in a "ripped from the headlines" fashion. Given that they have been invading countries like Georgia, and American intervention was discussed, it's not that far out there for this kind of game to envision a situation where Russia invades, and the US intervenes. What's more it's very true that we DO have better tech than them right now, which is easy to exagerrate for video game purposes into the whole quality vs. quantity dynamic for that lone wolf hero, or small "super elite force" perspective used for video games.
Incidently, there are other nations as well, like China that can be used much the same way. While a lot of people tend to take a "they are just rattling their sabers" attitude, China has been internally talking about invasions for a while, and building up a disturbing level of military force, while everyone ignores them. They are pretty much a super power, or pretty close to it right now. A lot of people might not LIKE to hear that, but again it's one of those situations that can be used for video game fodder, especially for Americans, because while the balance of power can change, right this minute if China decided to go a-conquering and demonstrated powerful enough anti-stallite technology (do a search for China, Lasers, Sattellies) to render the threat of long range WMD deliver/MAD irrevelent... well the only other super power out there that could oppose them would be the USA. Both the US and China doubtlessly bringing a lot of allies to the table as well (ie it's the "East Vs. West" World War III many people think is inevitable).
Now of course a lot of people think that using real countries and current politics as the inspiration for video games is a bad idea. Despite everything I said above, I have mixed opinions about it myself (which I won't get into sine this is long enough as it is). Irregardless of the touchy question of whether someone should be making games based around current conflicts and politics, as opposed to things that happened decades in the past and are verifiable history, the point is that if your going to be doing modern warfare games based around the USA going to war... then yeah, The Russians are still a pretty credible bad guy for us and have been for quite a while now.
Truthfully, with the polish game developers out there I have kind of been wondering when someone will finally get around to making a game like this from a European perspective. Their version of Homefront. EU politics and economic rivalry get to the point where they slot off the US who takes their toys and goes home to become isolationist again like sullen children. Russia curls it's snively whiplash mustache and without the US bases that were present decides to cut off the fuel, and starts a tag team alliance with China. China blinds european satellites so even it's relatively limited WMD stockpile is ineffective, and then we see a massive conserted zerg-rush through Eastern Europe as the powers that actually have military strength (Spain, France, The UK) throw their forces into the line there to hold them back, while in the meantime the US (since this isn't our game) continues to sit back and make popcorn while we watch, and laugh (in this scenario being too stupid to realize that once the EU is gone they are going to entrench there and then springboard to come after us eventually).
Sure, sure, there are some problems with it, but the point is a video game justification for setting "Red Dawn" in Poland with various European military units fighting overwhelming odds. Assuming people could get around the flashbacks to the similarity to things that have actually happened (Poland being made the battlefield "of choice" for other wars in the past) it could conceivably work. Then maybe people can stop complaining about how the US is the focus of every shooter out there, and who we may or may not be picking on by making them the bad guys. Truthfully I kind of wonder if people would complain as much if it was Europeans fighting Russians...
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