We won the cold war for a variety of reasons, military might, technological superiority, and economic might. Like every thing else in life, its a function of several variables, not just one. Those advocating one without the other are either blind, or just looking for excuses for what ever reason.
The world has many paths it can go down, and there are many players in the back ground with varying interests for it to go either way.
The reality is Putin needs to be stopped, you either nip it in the butt, whilst it is a small problem, or you let it get to the stage where it will be more expensive.
The fact is, if Putin wants another cold war, or wants to isolate Russia, or what ever, he is going to do it regardless, we just need to know where he stands and how far he is prepared to go.
He is playing a game on several fronts, at the heart of it is divide and conquer.
Sanctions are cr@p for most significant things, he controls the media and frankly just uses the boogie man scenario against us.