The Brits still have one of the most powerful militaries in the world, and no one at the present time is anywhere close to the US. Fading fast? Vassal states? Is that Germany? Poland? Estonia? Latvia? Just who is the vassal state to the US?
Delusional narcissists and wishful thinkers. Between the US/Brits and Israelis the level of military sophistication and capabilities is unsurpassed. No one comes close. Of course this is the world wide web, and you can find sites which rank Pakistan and N Korea among the top 5 most powerful.
I've tried to avoid this OP but the level of dumbassedness has surprised even me - and I expect a lot of it on this site.
I've read many of the articles that form your beliefs (I'm not the only one who thinks you are OCD on this topic) Met. Between Libertarians and conspiracy theorist nut jobs you seem to have formed a rock solid set of opinions.
The Ukrainian President was robbing the country blind and leading it into 4th world status quickly; he didn't need the US or EU to result in his downfall. At the time of his fall, one poll showed only 2% of the Ukrainians had trust in him, and that included the Crimea and E Ukraine. I suppose you are going to tell me the US/EU rigged the polls. He was imploding on his own. He was a cancer to the Ukrainian economy. Will his replacement be any better? Who knows.
Putin was relying on the ethnic Russians in E Ukraine to rise up in mass support for his separatists, who were being trained and armed by Putin. They have failed to do so to this point. His economy is not big enough and his military not strong enough to accomplish his goals right now. That may change, but the more he bites off at the present the more heartburn he is going to get. The only real leverage he has right now is gas and oil - and nukes as he himself pointed out this week (desperate comment showing weakness).