@graydon
There certainly are Evangelicals waiting for the Rapture and Armageddon, but their orange messiah is not one of them (he only believes in himself). He uses them and they use him (as do the Russians), but ultimately it's not about religion.
The US military would do best in a world without nukes because of its conventional superiority while for Russia its nukes are basically the only reason it currently occupies the Soviet seat in the UNSC.