I'm sorry but changing Putin with Hitler and Russia with Third Reich this text could well be from 1945.
I believe the point being made here is about Russia as a nuclear power. At the end of the war they weren’t and there was serious consideration made by the USA about using them against Russia - the world would have been different if they had.
No matter, they didn’t. But apart from nuclear weapons Russia is, at best, a second rate power. It’s GDP is the equivalent of Spain’s, it’s population is the same as Spain’s (which is why they were upset at how they were treated by the EU in negotiations).
The world, especially NATO, is walking on eggshells around them whilst they act as if they are invulnerable - the risk is that others, especially China, North Korea and Iran will do the same.
it si, perhaps, time to accept that nuclear weapons are an unusable weapon. Any user, including Russia, will suffer immediate overwhelming response if they use them. Russia won’t use them if other nations help defend Ukraine - otherwise why would he believe NATO nations would help defend, say, Estonia? We are back to the Yes Prime Minister quandary.
Otherwise would we defend Estonia, or Lithuania, or Latvia, or Poland…
Inidividual nations are not NATO. France and the UK are (at least for a few days) in Mali, the UK and USA are still in Syria, operating in strained conditions against Russia, etc.
There is no reason why the UK or USA should not provide F-35 squadrons to provide air cover over Ukraine outside NATO, or squadrons of AH-64s to defend Kyiv if asked.
If Putin threatens retaliation, ask his military and cabinet if the debacle in Ukraine is worth the price of nuclear war.